Operation: Kill a Cop
by kaleen1212
Summary: Someone is killing cops. Ironside must find out who and stop him before he or one of his staff joins the ranks of the dead cops.
1. Chapter 1

**Operation: Kill a Cop**

**Chapter 1**

1.1

The door to Chief Robert T. Ironside's office banged open and Commissioner Dennis Randall came down the ramp. "Mark, is there any more coffee left?" Randall looked at his top detective who was eating a breakfast of waffles and sausages. "That looks good," he commented.

"Mark, bring the commissioner coffee and breakfast," Ironside ordered. "Obviously he has not had breakfast this morning."

In his defense, Randall told Ironside. "I had to meet with the city council this morning at seven. I did not have time for breakfast," he complained.

Mark walked into the kitchen and placed a plate of waffles and sausages in front of the police commissioner. With his other hand, he set down a cup of black coffee. "Thanks Mark." Randall sipped the coffee and began eating his waffles.

"You are welcome Commissioner," Mark responded and headed back to the kitchen.

Ironside watched as his friend ate his breakfast in silence. He knew this was not just a social visit. It rarely was these days. His caseload was full and lately Dennis kept adding to it. Ironside had a hunch he was about to add some more. This visit probably meant the city council was in a panic over something. Any time the city council panicked, Dennis headed right for Ironside's office. Whatever it was, it always was dumped in his lap. Ironside would solve it and returned peace and quiet to his boss. "Are you going to tell me what is wrong Dennis or do I have to guess?" He hated having problems thrown at him the first thing in the morning.

"What makes you think something is wrong," Randall said innocently. "I came to see how you were feeling. After all, it was only a week ago; you suffered a very serious concussion. I wanted to make sure you have recovered."

The look on the commissioner's face was filled with concern for his friend and subordinate. Ironside knew something more was bothering him. He could at least lessen one of his concerns. "I am fine Dennis. The headache has subsided, my vision has cleared and I am sleeping like a baby," Ironside assured him.

"No problems with taking on a full load then?"

"No problem." Ironside continue to along with his boss. He knew he would get around to telling him whatever he was here for but his patience was wearing thin.

"Good, I am glad to hear it. You had us all worried."

The chief took another sip of coffee and finished his breakfast.

"How's Ed doing?" Randall asked.

"He's fine." Ironside was nearly out of patience. "Eve's fine, Mark's fine, we are all fine. Now will you please tell me what's on your mind?"

Randall finished his coffee. "Well, first of all have you heard about Officers Cook and Gates?"

Ironside nodded. "Yes. They blew a tire and lost control of their patrol car. Both were killed when Gate drove off the embankment…a tragic accident. We lost two good officers."

The phone rang. Mark picked up one of the extensions and announced, "Chief Ironside's office." He listened for a moment and then informed his boss. "Chief, Carl Reese is on the phone. He says he must speak with you immediately."

Ironside addressed the commissioner, "Excuse me Dennis." He grabbed the phone in front of him and lifted the receiver. "Yes, Carl." After listening a minute his expression turned to a frown. He was obviously now worried about whatever Carl had called him about. "Is he going to be alright?" He asked the lieutenant. Another moment brought another response. "Thanks Carl. Mark and I will go to the hospital." Ironside hung up the phone.

"Bob, what's going on?" Randall asked him.

"Ed was hit by a hit and run driver when leaving his apartment this morning."

Mark dropped what he was doing and joined Ironside and Randall at the table. "Is he ok?"

"They took him by ambulance to the hospital," he reported. "He was unconscious when the paramedics arrived at the scene. Carl did not know anything other than the paramedics said it was not life threatening." Dennis, whatever you want to talk to me about will have to wait. Mark, we are going to the hospital," he said as he turned his chair toward the ramp.

"Bob, I think we should talk first. Carl said it was not life threatening. This is important. I am sure you will agree."

"Make it fast Dennis. I want to get to the hospital."

"That makes the fourth cop in three days to be involved in a questionable accidents." Randall began.

Randall now had Ironside's undivided attention. "The fourth cop?" He questioned.

"First, we have Cook and Gates running off the road." Randall drew in a breath. "Captain Smith called my office early this morning. He did not want to wake you. He received another call, which he took. He was told one of his officers, a Detective Timothy Powers did not report in this morning. When he could not be reached on his cell phone, home phone or his car's mobile unit, Jimmy sent someone to his house." Randall paused.

"And?" Ironside prompted him.

"And he was found dead in his bathtub," Randall finished.

Ironside sat silently for a moment. "Accident?"

"Well, let's just say he hit his head hard enough to kill him.

Four cops either dead or attacked," Ironside said, mostly to himself.

"Correction, even Ed's look like it could have been an accident. The driver's view coming around the corner was obstructed by that tall hedge that runs down the entire length of the property."

"Then why did the driver not stop?" Ironside asked.

"Scared, perhaps." Randall guessed.

"What does all this have to do with the city council?"

Randall looked at Ironside. "The dead cop in the bathtub is Councilman Thomas Germain's grandson. They want you on this one, Bob."

"Dennis, this one you could not keep me away from."

1.2

Mark pulled the van into the hospital parking lot. After locating a handicap spot, he pulled in and shut the van off. Ironside lowered his wheelchair to the ground. Mark took his place behind him and wheeled into the emergency entrance.

He let go of the wheelchair and Ironside wheeled over to the desk. The young woman looked up. She recognized the man in the wheelchair. She had dealt with him before when one of his officers had been injured by the Moonlight Killer. She had quickly learned Chief Ironside did not take no for an answer.

"Can I help you Chief?" she asked the wheelchair bound detective.

"One of my officers has been brought in, Sgt. Ed Brown."

"I am sorry Chief. Your people seem to visit us regularly. I will call the attending physician for you, sir." She dialed and said, "Dr. Vatter, Chief Ironside is here checking on Sgt. Brown."

Moments later, a man dressed in the traditional white coat appeared through the emergency door. "Chief Ironside?" He asked.

"That's right," Ironside responded.

"Sgt. Brown will be fine. He has no broken bones. There is no internal bleeding. He did suffer some cuts and bruises. He was knocked unconscious when the vehicle slammed into him. There is no sign of a concussion but we would like to keep him for observation just to be sure," Dr. Vatter told Ironside.

"That is not a problem," Ironside agreed.

"That is not what Sgt. Brown says. He said he has to be back in your office immediately. It has been extremely difficult trying to keep him here.

Just like Ed, thought Ironside…..duty over health. Well, that was not happening. "Can I see Sgt. Brown, please?"

"Of course Chief. Right this way." Dr. Vatter led Ironside and Mark through the emergency door and down the hall. They arrived at a section that contained examining rooms with curtains used for the privacy of the patients. When they came upon examining room number six, Dr. Vatter pulled back the curtain. There lying on the bed was Ironside's detective sergeant.

"Hello chief," Brown said cheerfully. From the look on the chief's face Ed's desire of getting out of here had just diminished.

Dr. Vatter turned to leave the three men alone. "Doctor, please stay," Ironside requested.

Ut oh, Ed thought. The chief has already talked to the doctor.

"What's this I hear about you giving the doctor trouble about your care?"

"What" Ed said, confused.

"He feels you need to stay here for observation and you insist on leaving?" Ironside questioned in a loud boisterous voice.

"I'm fine Chief. I can work," Ed insisted.

"And just when did you get your medical degree, Dr. Brown?" Ironside asked with sarcasm to the delight of Dr. Vatter. "You will be staying here until Dr. Vatter decides that you have not suffered a concussion and releases you. You are then to go home and take it easy the rest of the day. I do not want to see you in the office until tomorrow."

"Chief!" Ed protested.

"That's an order Sergeant," Ironside barked.

Ed gave up. There was no arguing with the chief when he got this way.

Dr. Vatter, satisfied his patient would now follow his direction, left the examining room to attend to other patients.

The chief look at his now depressed detective and soften his voice." It's for your own good, Ed. Now tell me what happened."

"There is not much to tell. I left my apartment. My car was parked in front of the building. When I got to the car door, a car came barreling down the street straight at me. I tried to jump on the hood but did not get completely out of the way when he hit me."

"Then it was a man?" Ironside asked.

"Yes, but I did not have the time to make out his face but I am sure it was a man."

"Did you see the license plate number?"

"Sorry Chief. After he hit me everything went black," Ed said apologetically.

"What about the make and model?" Ironside asked.

"It happened so fast and I did not see him until the last minute. Sorry Chief."

"What about the color of the vehicle," Ironside asked.

Ed shook his head indicating he was of no help there either.

"Ok, if you think of anything, call me at the office."

"I will." Ed watched his boss. Something was wrong. "Is something bothering you chief?" Ed asked.

"I don't think this was a simple hit and run. I think whoever it was deliberately tried to run you down." Ironside proceeded to tell Ed about his conversation with Commissioner Randall.

"Then you think someone is out there with the intention of killing cops?" Ed asked.

"Not intention, Ed. Someone is killing cops. Tomorrow I want you to start investigating Cook and Gates accident. I have a hunch it was not an accident."

1.3

Boy, the cops were slow. He had killed four of them and they still had not figured out someone was bumping them off. At least he hoped he had killed Brown. He certainly hit him hard enough. It was too bad Brown saw him at the last minute. He would have no doubt if Brown had not had the time to move. He turned on the television hoping to get some idea of what the cops had pieced together. He was disappointed to discover nothing was reported on the news about Brown or Powers. The other two cops had been reported as an accident.

He had been sure once he took out Ed Brown it would bring Ironside into the investigation. Yet nothing had been reported on the news. Maybe he had not killed Brown after all. He was Ironside's number one boy. Surely, Ironside would have taken over the investigation if Brown were dead. That could only mean one thing. Brown had survived. He picked up the receiver and dialed San Francisco General. After he was greeted by the telephone operator he said, "I am a friend of Ed Brown. I know you can't give out information but I am a cop who works with him and I just want to know that he is alright."

"I am not allowed to give out information but I guess it would be ok this one time. After all, you are a cop. Mr. Brown is going to be just fine."

"That's great. Thank you." He hung up the phone. Damn! He missed. Brown had survived. At least he would have Ironside's attention. He would want to know who hit his sergeant and punish them. If he was lucky, Ironside had heard about the others. He would put two and two together even if no one else in the police department could. Yes, he could be sure he had Ironside's attention. It was imperative he be involved. He had ruined his life. Now he would keep him busy trying to keep his police force alive. This was going to be fun.

1.4

Eve continue with her paperwork. She had arrived on time this morning at nine o'clock to an empty office. Mark, the chief and Ed, all three of them had gone somewhere and had not left even a message of where they were going. The chief usually left word as to where he was going. Eve fought the temptation of calling Ironside. He was the boss. He did not have to account for his time to her, even if she did worry about him when she did not know where he was. Lost in thought, she did not hear the door open.

Mark and Chief Ironside came into the office. "Any calls, Eve?" Ironside asked.

"Just one. Carl called. He said he wanted to talk to you about Timothy Powers. He said it was important. Where have you been? I looked all over for some kind of note." It just dawned on her that Ed had not come in with Mark and the Chief. "Where's Ed?"

"In the hospital," Mark said. He headed to the kitchen.

Alarmed, Eve stood up. "Is he alright Chief?"

"Mark, how about some coffee?" Ironside shouted to his aide. "He's fine. They just wanted to keep him for observation."

"What happened to him?" Eve asked with concern.

Ironside brought Eve up to date on the hit and run and the dead officers. Eve listened with concern. "Do you have reason to believe Cook and Gates car was run off the road?"

"Not yet, Eve. But I am betting it wasn't an accident. I am going to have Ed check it out in the morning. Mark! Where's that coffee?" Ironside complained.

Mark walked up to the table with three mugs in one hand and a coffee pot in the other. He poured three cups and placed one in front of Ironside and one in front of Eve.

"What makes you think it wasn't an accident? I heard there were no marks on the side of the patrol car that would indicate being rammed. There was just the blown tire," Eve pointed out.

"That tire could have been shot out from underneath them," Ironside replied.

"If it was don't you think it would have shown up in the investigation immediately? Carl Reese was assigned to investigate, wasn't he?"

Mark frowned. "Why would they assign Carl on what would appear to be a routine accident if they believed that is what it was?"

"That is a very good question. Get Jimmy Smith on the phone for me," Ironside ordered.

Eve reached for the phone. "I would like to speak to Captain Smith. Chief Ironside's office calling…oh, I will tell the chief. Thank you." Eve hung up the phone.

"Well?" Ironside questioned with a look of _what are you waiting for _on his face.

"Captain Smith is on his way up her right now. He wants to talk to you, it seems."

The door opened and Jimmy Smith walked in and down the ramp. "Hi Chief." He sat down beside Ironside and placed a recorder in front of him.

"What's that for?" Ironside inquired as Mark brought another mug, poured coffee and set it in front of Captain Smith.

"The commissioner told me you were taking over the investigation into the death of the three cops we have lost. I thought I should bring you up to date."

"What did the lab report say?"

Smith pulled a manila folder out of his suit coat and handed it to Ironside. "We were not able to prove that the tire was shot. It had been burned pretty bad in the fire. The only thing it did show was a possible bullet hole here." Smith pointed to a picture of the tire.

"That not very conclusive. A good defense attorney would tear that piece of evidence to hell."

"Right. But I don't think he could this one." Smith pushed the button on the recorder. The sound of the patrol car siren could be heard in the background.

"_Patrol car 7 in pursuit of a hit and run driver on Highway 1. Green Chevrolet sudan, license plate RGL203. Request assistance. What was that? He's shooting at us! I'm losing control! Hang on!_

The next thing heard on the recording was a crash and an explosion. "I think that is conclusive Chief," Captain Smith said

"The plate number the officer's called in, who did it belong to?" Ironside inquired.

"Stolen from the owner's house about two hours before the crash," Smith replied.

"Do we know who they hit and who called the police?"

"Apparently they hit the patrol car. No one called the police and no one has put in a complaint about a hit and run driver."

"Have we found the vehicle?"

"Yes, immediately. It was parked down the road not far from the crash. It seems whoever did this was planning it. There were tires marks right beside where the car was parked. They belonged to a much larger vehicle. Probably a large pickup truck."

"And we have no witnesses," Ironside said.

"Sorry Chief, not a one." Smith replied.

"Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah, both those officers had two kids each under the age of five."

Anger began rising within Ironside. "I want this guy Jimmy," Ironside said.

"Well, I hope you get him. You add this up with Power's dying in his bathtub and Ed being run down and it adds up to a cop killer," Smith said.

Ironside nodded as Smith got up and left his office. He had a burning in his gut that told him they had not heard the last of this cop killer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Operation: Kill a Cop**

**Chapter 2**

The restaurant lighting was low. The music was soft. The candles glow was warm that, only surpassed by the feeling that was felt between the two people eating dinner together for the first time in quite a while.

"You never did tell me whether or not Ed is alright," Barbara said to Ironside.

"He has a few more scrapes and bruises but that was the most he suffered," Ironside answered. "The doctors kept him for a few hours and then I sent him home. He is still recovering from the bullet wound to his shoulder."

"Please don't remind me. I feel responsible for that."

"Don't," Ironside scolded. If you had not shown up, he would have used May instead." Ironside thought back on the kidnapping of Bobby Evans. They had been very lucky to get out of that only losing one man. Ultimately, Bobby had called Ironside on the phone, which led to his rescue but his mother and Barbara, as well as everyone in that Daycare Center had been taken hostage. Eve had been taken by the mob to keep Ironside from interfering in the removing of the drugs that had been concealed by Ken Tyson at the daycare center. Ed and Fran had prevented disaster at the center while Carl, Mark, and Ed, who joined them after finishing at the daycare center, were able to rescue Eve from certain death at the hands of Tony Marco.

Barbara ran her finger along the rim of her wine glass. "I know that but I still feel terrible about all the trouble I caused you."

Ironside smiled and placed his hand over hers. "Why don't we forget about my job for one evening and enjoy each other."

She smiled back at him and said, "Then let me make a toast. To you….."

"To us," Ironside said as he clanged his glass against hers.

"To us," she smile at him and sipped her wine. She watched, as Ironside seemed uneasy about something. She believed she knew why and now was the time to discuss it with him. "Bob, there is something I would like to talk to you about."

Ironside returned his attention to her. "Alright, what's on your mind?"

"Us," Barbara said.

Ironside showed a bit more uneasiness. "What about us? Are you unhappy with me?" Have I done or said something to offend you?" He asked her knowing that was not the subject of her concern.

"No, of course not. I am not quite sure how to bring this up but since we have been back together, we have not exactly been together."

Ironside knew this was coming and he did not blame her. "Barbara, I know my job takes up a large part of my time. You knew it would. When we are together, I have been attentive. I try to make every minute count. I have been a gentleman and….."

"That's the problem, Bob. You have been too much of a gentleman," she interrupted, her voice trailing off.

Ironside sat silently for a minute. "You want more from me?"

"Of course, I would hope you feel the same about me," she said softly.

"Because I am in this wheelchair doesn't mean I don't feel the same thing every other man does. I can't think about anything else when I am with you."

"Then what is it? Why have you not…" She stopped. "Robert is it possible or am I bringing up something that is only going to serve to hurt you and bring back unpleasant memories."

"A few years ago the answer to your question would be no. But with modern medicine and the nature of my injury, yes I can…with certain limitations."

"So than why haven't we?" she asked him. "Are you afraid of trying?"

"No, of course not," Ironside turned his head away. "I guess I am concerned you will turn away from me when you realize what you have gotten yourself into."

"Bob, if your disability had been a problem, we would not have gotten together in the first place. I have changed my entire life to be with you. Isn't that proof enough that I love you?"

Ironside softened his tone to a bare whisper, "of course it is and I feel the same about you. It's just that I have not been with…..since before being shot."

She smiled. "Let's get out of here and go to my place." She put both hands up, "No pressure. Let's just relax in front of the fire and drink wine and enjoy each other's company."

"Fireplace? In eighty degree heat?" Ironside asked.

She laughed at him, "I'll turn up the air conditioning."

When they arrived at Barbara's apartment, she helped him out of the wheelchair and onto the couch. Barbara set a fire going in the fireplace.

"You weren't kidding about the fire?" Ironside asked a bit surprised she was actually lighting it.

"I told you I would turn up the air." However, what she really intended to do was turn up the heat. She disappeared into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with a bottle of wine and two glasses. She poured both and handed one to Ironside, set hers on the table and sat down beside him. This time she not only left no space between them but also took his left arm and pulled it around her pressing her entire body up against him.

Barbara took his chin, which by now contained heavy stubble as it always did at the end of the day, and turned his head toward her. Ironside lowered his lips to hers. She quickly deepened the kiss, untied his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. She reached under the shirt and ran her fingers through his chest hair while kissing his neck.

"Oh hell," Ironside groaned. He set his wine glass down, reached for the phone and dialed his office. "Mark, I will not be back tonight. I'll see you in the morning."

2.2

Sgt. Ed Brown walked into Ironside's office. He joined Eve and Mark who were sitting at the table looking over some paperwork. They looked up.

"I thought the chief told you to stay home and rest," Eve said with concern in her voice.

"I rested all day. I am bored. So what's going on?" He looked around; one very commanding presence seemed to be missing. "Where's the chief?"

"Out to dinner with Barbara," Mark said. "He said he might be late. He's not going to be happy when he finds out you did not stay home."

"I am fine and can help. What are you working on?"

The phone rang. Mark picked it up. "Chief Ironside's office….oh hi Chief…Chief." Mark hung up the phone.

Eve and Ed looked at Mark who had a bewildered look on his face. It slowly turned to a smile.

"Well, what did he say?" Ed asked.

"He said he would not be back tonight and that he would see me in the morning." Mark answered.

Eve smiled. "Good for him."

"Good for him, what?" Ed said.

Eve rolled her eyes. "Do we have to spell it out for you?"

"He went to dinner with…..Barbara. He's not coming home tonight," Mark said.

"I know, you said that…oh…oh," Ed said and then grinned.

"Took you long enough. And you're supposed to be a detective," Eve laughed.

Being a good sport Ed laughed at Eve's kidding. He then turned serious and said, "I guess I never thought about the chief that way. He's stayed single since his wife died…and then being shot….."

"Well I for one am happy for him and Barbara," Eve said. She got up and headed for the kitchen. "Coffee, anyone?"

"Yes, thank you." Ed said down. "So bring me up to date."

"We have two cops, Officers Dillon Cook and Pete Gates, killed in what had appeared an accident. On further examination by Carl, it now appears one of the tires were shot out, causing the officer to lose control of the patrol car," Eve began after setting the coffee in front of Ed.

"Then we have Timothy Powers," Mark said, "who did not report to work. When check upon, he was found dead in his bathtub."

So absorbed in what they were doing, they did not hear Lt. Carl Reese enter the office. "And we have Sgt. Ed Brown hit by a hit and run driver. Fortunately, he survived." Carl looked around the room. "Where's the chief?"

"He went to dinner with Barbara," Mark said.

"I need to talk with him tonight. I'll just hang out with you until he gets back."

Ed looked at Eve who looked at Mark.

Carl watched the three of them and asked "Am I missing something?"

"Ah, the chief is not coming back tonight. He called and said he would see us in the morning," Mark explained.

Carl grinned. The door banged open and Commissioner Randall came down the ramp. "Where's your boss?"

"Out to dinner with Barbara," Mark said for the third time.

"Well you can bring me up to date until he gets back," Randall said after grabbing a cup of coffee from the kitchen.

"Here we go again," Mark said.

Randall looked at Mark. "What are you talking about?"

"He won't be back until morning," Carl told Randall.

"Well, where in the hell is he staying? I need to talk to him and he is not answering his cell phone." Randall looked at his officers who said nothing. "Where was he going after he left Barbara?"

Sill his officers said nothing. Then Randall said, "oh."

"Sit down Commissioner. We are just discussing the cop killer," Carl said.

"Then we have determined that it is a cop killer?"

"No, but it is beginning to look that way," Eve said. "This afternoon I went over to Timothy Powers' apartment. There was blood on the taps. They were off. So if he did fall in the tub it was after his shower was completed. He was bleeding from the back of his head."

"So, are you saying it was an accident, Eve?" Randall asked.

"No Commissioner, I don't believe it was. You see he also had an open wound on the front of his forehead. I believe he was struck from behind causing that wound and then fell toward the taps, hitting the front of his head."

"So which blow was it that killed him?"

"The back of the head. It caused massive internal damage and bleeding. The front one broke the skin and caused bleeding but he would have survived it. It did not cause any internal damage."

Ed frowned. "What are the chances he fell forward? Then the blow to the forehead caused him to be dizzy and he then fell backwards, making it a simple accident."

Eve shook her head. "The tub was unique. The texture of the bottom of the tub would keep anyone from slipping. And not only was the bottom of the tub textured so was the flat part of the tub all away around it. The floor in front of the tub had a built in textured mat, the same as the rest of it. No, Ed. The chances of someone falling in that tub are remote," Eve finished.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Then Carl spoke up. "Now we come to the attempt on Ed."

Randall blew out a long breath. "Ed, I know you went over this with Chief Ironside but Mark was the only one there so can you go over it again for our benefit?"

Ed repeated his story just as he had told Ironside and Mark at the hospital. He made sure he did not leave anything out. When he was finished, everyone again sat quietly for a minute before the commissioner finally broke the silence. "Was there anything about the driver that seemed familiar to you at all? Anything that would help us attain his identity?"

"I'm sorry Commissioner. I spent the entire day going over what happened in my mind and I cannot think of anything that can help. The chief called me late this afternoon with that very same question and I just cannot come up with a thing."

"Alright what did Bob have you doing this afternoon?" Randall asked.

"Mark and I have been going over files looking for anyone that hated cops enough to start a killing spree," Eve said.

"And?" Randall asked.

"The possibilities are endless," Mark said. "We have a list of suspects." He handed the list to the commissioner. "The chief is going to start checking them out tomorrow."

Randall looked over the list. "Some of these are in prison."

"The chief wants to make sure they are still there. Remember, we did not know that Jimmy Chard had escaped from prison when we were looking for the Moonlight Killer. He wants to be sure we don't overlook it this time," Eve said.

"Have we got the autopsy report on Powers, yet?" Ed asked.

"No. The last time I check, the coroner was not finished with it. He was not happy about me interrupting him. He said he would have a report to the chief in the morning," Mark answered.

"Well, since there is no sense in waiting for Bob, I am going home." Randall got up, headed toward the door. "You know by tomorrow every cop in the building is going to know he did not return home tonight. He must know he is too high profile for that not to be noticed."

"I somehow doubt there is a single cop in the building who will ask him for his whereabouts," Eve pointed out.

"That won't keep them from talking among themselves," Randall said as he opened the door. Then he turned and said, "Tell him I want to talk to him when he returns to the nest." Randall left Ironside's office.

Carl looked at his watch. "There is not much else we can do tonight. It is getting late and my wife told me the other night, she almost shot me when I came in. I think she is complaining I am not home enough for her to recognize me. I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Wait up Carl and I'll walk out with you," Ed said. "Come on Eve, I'll give you a ride home."

Within seconds, Mark found himself alone. Well at least I will get an uninterrupted night's sleep, he thought.

2.3

The alarm clock beside the bed went off. Ironside slowly opened his eyes; he reached over and turned off the alarm without disturbing Barbara. He laid there looking at the woman in his arms, proof that what happened last night was not a dream. He leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead. She began stirring in his arms.

"Good morning," he said softly.

She opened her eyes to look into the deep blue eyes of the San Francisco detective. Smiling, she reached up and ran her finger down the dimpled line that ran the length of his cheek. "Good morning to you."

Ironside leaned down and kissed her softly. "I need to get into the shower. Is there a chair in there?"

"Custom made for you," she said.

Ironside pulled himself into a sitting position. Barbara sat up, ran her fingers through his chest hair and asked, "No regrets?"

He took her hand in his, kissed it and said, "No a single one. Thank you. I think you know what I mean."

"I do and you are welcome," she smiled.

Ironside untangled himself from Barbara and maneuvered himself into his chair. He wheeled into the bathroom. He immediately noticed that Barbara had set up a chair for showering. She had placed his preferred soap in the shower. Over on the sink laid a razor, shaving cream (his brand), toothpaste (his brand), a new tooth brush, deodorant (his brand), and after shave (also his brand). A towel lay within reach of the shower. Ironside realize she had planned last night. Otherwise, these items would not have been here. From the time they had arrived at the apartment, she had not left his sight other than to retrieve the wine from the kitchen, and he knew she could not go into this bathroom from anywhere except the bedroom.

After showering and shaving, he finished up in the bathroom. He wheeled back in to the bedroom. There on the bed she had set out another suit and tie and a shirt for him. Socks, a tee shirt and underwear were beside it. On the floor, a pair of shoes to match his suit was waiting for him. Ironside smiled. There was only one way she could have all of this here. She had to have a co-conspirator. He could not imagine Mark helping her or even Barbara asking him. It would have been too embarrassing for both of them. Same applied to Ed. No, Eve had to have helped Barbara with this. Eve, his pretty policewoman who was always concerned for his happiness. Yes, there was no doubt she had a part in this. The detective in him knew that. Besides it was just a process of elimination.

Ironside finished dressing. He had learned to become pretty self-efficient over the past few years. He wheeled out of the bedroom. As soon as he did the aroma of bacon and eggs was in the air. Ironside did not have the heart to tell Barbara, he really was not that crazy about eggs. When he arrived in the kitchen, the table was set and Barbara was just placing his breakfast on the table.

He wheeled over to the only place at the table that did not contain a chair and watched as she served up the eggs and bacon. There was a glass of orange juice to the right of his plate and a cup of coffee. After serving up breakfast for herself, she set down.

"Did you find everything you needed?" she asked.

"Yes. It is amazing how it just happened to be there and all the brands of everything I use. How did you know what to get?" he asked casually.

"I had some help," she smiled, "with everything but the after shave. I have been close enough to you to know what you wear." Barbara knew her detective had figured out her plan.

Ironside reached out for her hand. "I enjoyed every minute I spent with you. What do you say we do it again sometime, this time without Eve's help?"

She smiled, "Now don't you be hard on her. She only did what I asked her to do. And yes, we'll do it again real soon."

"You do know my staff is going to give me looks and ask how last night went, don't you?"

"That's the price you pay for having people care about you," she said with a smile.

They exchanged small talk and finished breakfast. Reluctantly Ironside ended their time together. "I have to get to work. I have a case to solve."

"Don't you always?" Barbara said. "I'll walk you out.

Barbara wheeled Ironside out of the apartment building and toward the specially equipped van that he drove. Just as they reached the back of the van, Barbara spotted a man coming toward them. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at them. "BOB!" she shouted as she gave his wheelchair a shove toward the protection of the back of the van. Just then, their assailant fired his gun.


	3. Chapter 3

**Operation: Kill a Cop**

**Chapter 03**

**3.1**

**Officer Eve Whitfield entered Ironside's office and came down the ramp. She looked around. The smell of fresh coffee was in the air. Mark had placed coffee cups around the table for four. He poked his head out from the kitchen and said, "Coffee will be ready in a minute."**

**The door opened and Sgt. Ed Brown entered the office. "Is the chief in yet?"**

**Mark brought the coffee pot to the worktable and poured coffee for Ed and Eve. "No, not yet but he should be here any minute."**

**Eve frowned. Ed noticed and asked, "What's the matter Eve?"**

"**I don't know Ed. It's probably nothing but when has the chief ever not been ready for work when we come it? He is always up, dressed and waiting for us when we get here. He's a firm believer in setting the example. The only time I can think of is when he is sick in bed. So where is he?"**

"**Shall I spell it out for you?" Ed threw Eve's own words from the night before back at her. **

"**No Ed. Last night was different altogether. That was after hours, this is not. Even Barbara could not keep the chief from coming to work. You know that."**

**Ed sat down at the table and took a sip of the coffee Mark had placed in front of him. He checked his watch. It was exactly nine o'clock. Eve was right about the chief always being ready for work. He had felt good this morning when he came in but Eve had just killed his mood.**

**Mark poured a cup a coffee for himself. "Which one of you would like to call Barbara's and ask the chief why he is late?"**

**When Ed said nothing, Eve asked, "Do I take it both of you think I am just being paranoid?" **

"**I would like to say yes," Ed said, "but since you have mentioned it, I don't like the feeling it has conjured up." **

"**Well I am not calling him," Mark said. **

"**Let's give him a while longer." Ed picked up a report that was sitting on the table.**

"**That's the autopsy report on Timothy Powers," Mark told him.**

**Ed read the report. "This report says Powers was hit by something that punctured the skull. That was the blow to the back of the head. The wound was extremely deep."**

"**There was nothing in that bathtub that could have caused a wound like that," Eve said. "It was not an accident."**

"**I think we were already pretty sure of that," Ed replied.**

"**Yes, but this report substantiates it," Eve pointed out.**

**The phone rang. "Maybe that is the chief now," Mark said as he picked up the phone receiver. "Chief Ironside's office?" He listened for a moment. His face was full of concern. "Thanks Carl, we are on our way."**

**Ed and Eve both look at Mark. "What is it Mark?" Eve asked.**

"**Carl said the chief just called for police back up and an ambulance. He was was under fire."**

"**An ambulance?" Eve asked. "Where is he?"**

"**The address he gave was Barbara's," Mark answered.**

"**Who is the ambulance for?" Ed questioned.**

"**I don't know but we aren't going to find out what is going on sitting here," Mark told his associates. **

**Ed and Eve got up and followed Mark out of the office.**

**3.2**

**Ironside felt Barbara give his wheelchair a hard push and heard the painful sound of a gunshot. He wheeled around back toward Barbara as she fell toward him. He reached out and grabbed her, pulling her into his lap. With his right hand, he reached into his suit coat and pulled out his service revolver. Holding on to Barbara, he positioned his wheelchair at the edge of the van and returned fire. Their assailant shot back at him. Ironside fired several more shots and then reloaded.**

**Ironside wheeled backwards and pushed the button on the side of the van. The lift lowered to the ground. He backed onto the it and pushed the button. It began rising into the air carrying both him and the woman he loved. Several more shots were fired at the van and then silence prevailed. **

**He gently laid Barbara down on the seat in the back of the van. He then noticed he was covered with blood. Checking Barbara for a gunshot wound, he discovered she had been shot just underneath her arm. The area must have been exposed when she shoved his wheelchair behind the van.**

**Barbara began to stir. "Easy baby, don't move," Ironside told her. "I am going to get help. He grabbed a hand towel out of an overhead compartment, placed it over the wound and told her, "Hold this tight against the wound. I am going to get us out of here." He wheeled his chair into position and started the van. **

**More shots were fired and Ironside felt the front driver's tire go flat. He grabbed the police radio receiver. "This is Chief Ironside. Shots have been fired." He gave Barbara's address and added, "I need backup and an ambulance for a victim with a gunshot wound. All available units."**

**Ironside rolled down the passenger window and fired his revolver in the general direction of the assailant. He could not see him. He knew he had been the target of the shooter. If Barbara had not shoved his wheelchair and momentum had not carrier her into the line of fire, he would have been shot instead of her. She had just possibly saved his life by giving hers. No, he could not think about that. He had to get help for her.**

**He wheeled back to Barbara. He took her hand in his, kissed it and said, "Hang on baby. Help is on the way."**

**She looked up at him and smiled. She said weakly, "Whatever happens, always remember I love you, Bob."**

"**Nothing is going to happen. You are going to be fine," he said as his voice choked. He tighten the grip on her hand and rubbed her palm with his thumb. He used his other hand to apply pressure on her wound to try to stem the flow of the bleeding.**

**Sirens roared in the background. The shooting had stopped. Ironside spotted police vehicles racing toward them. An ambulance was coming from the opposite direction. Several more patrol cars raced into the area. They began positioning the vehicles around Ironside's van. Police started pouring out of the vehicles, heading in a protective perimeter around the police department's top cop.**

**The ambulance was pulled up on the grass beside Ironside's van. Lt. Carl Reese's opened the driver's door and entered the vehicle. He was followed in by two paramedics. **

"**Chief, were you hit?" Carl asked. **

"**No Carl, but Barbara was. She needs medical attention fast."**

"**That's what we are here for," one of the paramedics said. He walked around Ironside who still did not let go of Barbara's hand.**

"**Chief, you need to get out of the way," the paramedic said. When Ironside continued to hold her hand the paramedic pushed his chair back. "Chief, you have to trust us. Let go."**

**Carl moved into the back of the van. He put his hand on Ironside shoulder, "Chief, let him do his job."**

**Ironside backed up. The paramedic went to work. "I need more light in here."**

**Carl opened the back doors. The morning sunlight shined into the van.**

**Another paramedic entered the van from the back. He placed oxygen in Barbara's nostrils and placed the plastic tubing around her ears while the other paramedic continued to try to stop the bleeding.**

**Once the oxygen was in place, the paramedic took her pulse and checked her other vital signs. **

"**Ok, I have the bleeding under control for now. We can move her."**

"**We have to move fast. I'll get a stretcher." He pushed his way past his partner. Over his shoulder, he called out. "Lieutenant, if the chief is going to the hospital, move him to the ambulance now on the double."**

**Carl wasted no time. He grabbed Ironside's wheelchair and quickly pushed him onto the lift. He hit the button and jumped off the lift to the ground in front of Ironside. **

**Ed's black Ford sedan screeched to a halt. He, Mark and Eve got out of the Ford and raced over to the chief. "Are you all right," Mark shouted. **

"**I'm fine. Barbara has been shot. Ed, you and Eve stay here. One assailant shooting from that direction." He pointed. Barbara saw him. She saved my life. I shot back blind. I could not see him. I was trying to protect Barbara." **

**The lift reached the ground and Carl began wheeling Ironside away as fast as he could. The paramedics were carrying Barbara by stretcher to the ambulance. Carl had Ironside in the ambulance when the paramedics placed her inside. One paramedic joined her and Ironside in the ambulance. The other got behind the wheel. The ambulance sped away from the scene with the sirens wailing.**

"**Ed?" Eve pleaded with her superior officer.**

"**Take my car. Stay with the chief. I handle things here. Mark, I could use your help here."**

"**Ed?" Mark questioned.**

**Ed tossed his keys to Eve and then walked over to Mark. "You know the chief. He doesn't want sympathy. What he needs right now is the feminine touch. He needs Eve, not us. Especially if the worse….," he trailed off. "I want to be with him too Mark but I know he doesn't need us there. He needs Eve. She is his best medicine right now."**

**Mark nodded. "How can I help you?"**

"**Go into Barbara's apartment building and find out if anyone saw this man," Ed said. Mark left Ed and headed to Barbara's apartment building.**

**Carl approached Ed. "Whoever he was, I don't think he is around now. We are checking every apartment in the building and making a house to house search of the area."**

"**I sent Mark into the building to start questioning the renters," Ed said. "Let's check out the area the chief said he was shooting from."**

**Carl and Ed started walking in the direction to which the chief had pointed. Both men continued barking orders at the police officers in the area. When they arrived to where they believed Ironside's assailant was shooting, both detectives started looking around. **

**Several minutes later Ed called out to Carl, "Over here!" Carl stopped what he was doing and joined his associate and friend. "Look," Ed said and pointed to the ground. "The chief may have been shooting blind but he hit his target."**

**Carl kneeled down and touched his finger to the red spot in the grass. He looked at his finger and then sniffed the red substance. "It's definitely blood." Carl shouted to an officer. "Get the team over here!" Carl then pointed, "Shells." He pulled out a police evidence bag and picked the shells up with a handkerchief from his pocket. He placed them in the bag and handed the bag to Ed."**

**Mark Sanger was walking in their direction. With him was an elderly woman whom was holding onto Mark's arm. When they arrived, Mark said, "This is Agnes Pope. She has something to tell you. Mrs. Pope, this is Lt. Reese and Sgt. Brown. Please tell them what you told me."**

"**Well it is like I told this young man. I have a Pekingese dog. I took him out to do his business at six o'clock this morning. I always take him out early. Pekingese do not handle the heat well so I like to get him out early in the morning for a walk. You see it is just too hot for Pekingese to go for a walk later in the day. Anyway, when I took him out at six I noticed this man sitting in one of those bug cars."**

"**Bug cars?" Carl asked.**

"**Yes, you know those ones where when you see them, you slug the person with you and say slug bug beetle."**

"**A Volkswagen," Ed said.**

"**Yes, that's the one. Anyway, I noticed him but I did not pay that much attention to him. I took Gizmo for his walk and this man was still there when I came back. He was sitting in the car reading a newspaper. I do not think he noticed either time when I went by."**

"**What color was the vehicle?" Carl asked.**

"**It was red. Candy apple red," she answered. I wrote down the license number." She handed a small piece of paper to Ed. "It is a good thing I did because when I heard the first gunshot, I looked out the window. He was shooting at my neighbor and her man. She is dating a man in a wheelchair. He's a big man….a good looking man. I think he spent the night with her. His van was parked over their all night."**

**Ed cleared his throat as Carl tried to suppress a smile. "Yes, well can you tell me what he looked like?" Ed asked.**

"**I did not get a very good look at him. He had a newspaper in front of his face and I was not trying to be nosey or anything like that. After all, I always mind my own business. But he had brown hair. I would say he was a bit older then you young man," she said to Ed. "He was closer to your age," she told Carl. "I wish I could tell you what his face looked like but I really did not get to see it clearly. I do believe he wore a beard….you know the kind men wear on the end of their chins."**

"**Is there anything else you can tell us about this man?" Carl asked.**

"**Oh, I forgot, when I left he was talking on a cell phone and he was saying something about putting another pig out of his misery. I think he might have been a pig farmer," Mrs. Pope said.**

"**If you think of anything else that might help us find this man, please call us at this number." Ed took one of his business cards out of his suit coat pocket and handed it to the elderly woman.**

"**I will young man. Can I go now? I have to feed my Pekingese," she said.**

"**Yes, and thank you for your help," Ed said. Ed nodded at Mark. Mark took the old woman's arm and led her back to the apartment building.**

"**What do you think?" Carl asked Ed.**

"**It's our cop killer and the chief was his target. I don't understand how he missed the chief and hit Barbara," Ed said.**

"**The chief said something about Barbara saving his life. It sounds like she might have stepped in front of the bullet."**

"**How bad is she, Carl?" Ed asked.**

"**It's not good. Those paramedics were working as fast as they could to stabilize the wound to get her to the hospital. I'm not a doctor Ed, but they looked worried to me. And the chief…..I have never seen him that way before."**

"**He loves her Carl," Ed said to his friend.**

"**Yea, and to have this happened after the night the two of them must have had last night…it's a shame. Ed, how did the chief's first wife die? The only thing I have ever heard is that she died. I have never had the guts to ask the chief."**

"**She was killed in a car accident," Ed answered. "Only the chief has never believed it was an accident. There was a big case that was being investigated at the time. It involved the mob. The head of the particular crime family the chief was going after. told him to back off or he would pay for it. The chief told him that threatening him would not get him to back off. Gambini said to him…..**_**who said I was threatening YOU? **_**The chief believes to this day that Gambini messed with her car. He could not prove it but he believes that is what Gambini meant by that statement. Anyway, we got the proof we needed to arrest him for drug trafficking. When we went after Gambini, he got by us. But the chief was covering us. Gambini tried to shoot his way past him. The chief shot and killed him."**

"**And now this," Carl shook his head. "I hope she pulls through, not just for herself but for the chief."**

"**Yea, me too. Well, let's see where this plate number leads us," Ed suggested.**

"**I can answer that without checking," Carl said cynically.**

"**A stolen car," Ed surmised.**

"**This guy would not have brought his own car for someone to possibly get the plate number. He wants to kill as many cops as he can."**

"**All the more reason we better find him and fast," Ed said.**

**3.4**

**The station nurse entered the waiting room with a pot of coffee and two cups on a tray. She made her way over to Ironside and Eve Whitfield. "I thought you might like some coffee, Chief Ironside."**

**Ironside looked up. "Thank you. Is there any news?"**

"**No sir. I am sorry. She is in surgery. It could take quite a long time. We could call you at your office if you would like to go back to work."**

"**I am not going anywhere. I will be right here. Please come here with any news you might hear," he told her.**

"**Yes sir, I will." She placed her hand on his shoulder for a moment and then left the waiting room.**

**Eve poured him a cup of coffee and then one for herself. She handed one cup to her boss.**

**Ironside took the coffee from his policewoman and took a sip. "It is not as good as yours," he said. He set down on a nearby table.**

**Eve smiled. She watched her boss. She had seen him worried on many occasions but the last time she had seen him in this kind of mood was on the plane on the return trip from Barbara's. She had lost her memory of him after a fall and Ironside thought he had lost her. As fate would have it, her memory returned and it led to their reunion. Eve could not believe that after everything this man had been through where Barbara was concerned that the possibility existed he could now lose her forever. Eve thought back to the day Barbara asked for her help in maneuvering the chief into stepping up their relationship.**

_**The door to Chief Ironside's office opened. Barbara Jones came down the ramp.**_

_**She looked around. No one appeared to be around except Eve. Perfect, she thought.**_

_**She was the one Barbara wanted to see. "Where is everyone?" she asked Eve.**_

"_**Actually, I don't know. There is a note here for me to pull some files for the **_

_**chief. It says I can go home when I am done."**_

"_**Good. I wanted to talk to you alone," Barbara told her.**_

"_**What about?" Eve asked.**_

"_**About your boss," she answered.**_

"_**What about him?" **_

"_**Eve, you must know by now that I love Bob."**_

"_**I have never doubted that Barbara. Why do you bring it up?"**_

_**Barbara sat down beside Eve. "Well, when two people love each other as much as I believe Bob and I do their relationship naturally moves to the next plateau."**_

_**Eve realized what Barbara was getting at. "Do you mean to say you and the chief have never…"**_

"_**That is exactly what I mean to say," Barbara interrupted Eve to save her from any embarrassment it might cause her. "He has been a total gentleman and it is driving me crazy."**_

"_**Have you talked to him about it?" Eve asked.**_

"_**Well no. I have not thought of a way to bring it up to him. I have laid down many hints but he either has not picked up on them or has ignored them. I was wondering if you knew…well whether or not he is….well capable of…well you know what I mean."**_

_**Eve laughed nervously, "It isn't exactly something that he would discuss with me." **_

"_**No I suppose not. I just know he feels close to you. I could not go to Mark or Ed. You are the only one besides them that really knows Bob."**_

"_**Barbara, I have a suggestion," Eve said.**_

"_**What is that?"**_

"_**Seduce him," Eve said. "I can help you if you like.**_

"_**Just what do you have in mind?"**_

"_**Find a nice dark, romantic restaurant. Have a few drinks of wine. Find a way to bring up your concerns. Invite him back to your place, claiming no pressure and then seduce him. He's a man. He loves you. He might be feeling a bit self-conscious because of his disability. Put him at ease about it. Maybe he is waiting for you to make the first move to know you really want him too. Look, I can pick out a suit, tie, shirt…clean socks underwear, shoes, a razor, shaving cream, after shave. You know everything he will need in the morning to come to work."**_

_**Barbara smiled. "You would do that?"**_

"_**Of course. Anything for the chief's happiness. That is what is most important to me. God knows he has lived through and put up with some of my love affairs. He has been my rock while I figured out what to do. He's more like a second father to me than a boss. I would love to help him whether he wants it or not," she smiled.**_

_**Both women laughed. "Come on let's get started. We'll want to get everything you need to have for him before the chief gets back. If he doesn't have a spare of anything, I'll give you the brands and you can pick them up at a store."**_

**Eve looked at her boss. Her heart was breaking for him. She knew how much pain his love for Barbara had cause him. Just when he was reaping the benefit of it, this had to happen. She had to find a way to comfort him. She walked around behind him, put her arms around his neck and held him tight. Eve kissed his cheek and whispered, "She is going to be just fine. You have to believe that. Besides, I did not go to all that work for nothing." She kept holding him and placed her cheek up against his. She could feel the slight smile breaking on his face against hers.**

"**You conspired with Barbara against me," he said softly.**

"**For you," she corrected. "Besides, for a detective that has a reputation for solving the most cases the fastest, when it comes to love a snail could beat you."**

**Ironside chuckled slightly. "It was perhaps one of the best nights of my life. And here I thought women liked a gentleman. Boy, either times have changed or I am out of practice." **

**Ironside and Eve laughed together. Ironside took both her hands in his, kiss one and then the other. "You always seem to know how to make me feel better," he said.**

"**That is because for all the shouting, grumping, roaring and acting like a tough guy….you really are a marshmallow," she whispered.**

**He chuckled again, "Don't you believe it Officer Whitfield. I could have you doing traffic control tomorrow."**

"**Chief, do you realized how many times you have threatened to reduce officers to traffic control and you have never done it one single time," Eve pointed out as she continued to hold him tightly.**

"**There is always a first time," he said. **

**Eve smiled and kissed his cheek again. Ironside squeezed her hand in return.**

"**You don't have to wait here with me. It may be hours before I hear anything. Why don't you go back to the office."**

"**I am not going anywhere Robert Ironside. So don't bother issuing an order you will force me to disobey." She felt Ironside tremble slightly.**

"**Eve?" He said.**

"**Yes Robert, "she said softly, breaking with protocol to use his first name.**

"**I can't lose her now…not now," he said as his voice choked off. **

"**You won't. You will have many more nights like last night. You will see." Eve held on tight to the man who long ago had won her awe, respect and her love. No, she would not leave him alone, not for a minute. For right now, he needed her. He was always there for her and she was not leaving him alone to face whatever the future held.**


	4. Chapter 4

Operation: Kill a Cop

Chapter 04

4.1

Eve could tell the wait was agonizing for Chief Ironside. He had spent the last three hours pacing in his wheelchair. Eve wanted to tell him to settle down but her heart told her to keep quiet as it was actually helping to keep him calm, even if it was driving her crazy. So she just sat back and watched as her boss continued to pace.

A nurse walked into the waiting room. Ironside turned his wheelchair towards her. Eve stood up, stood behind the chief placing a hand on his shoulder, and squeezed. Ironside did not acknowledge it but he appreciated her subtle support.

When the nurse saw the look on the detective's face she said, "I am sorry chief. I do not have any news yet. Ms. Jones is still in surgery. There is a phone call for you, sir. A Sgt. Ed Brown. He says he needs to speak with you. I have transferred the call to the phone on the table. Just pick it up and press line two."

Ironside wheeled to the table, picked up the receiver and pressed line two as he was instructed to do. "Ironside."

"Chief, its Ed. We are pretty sure it was out cop killer and you were his target. An elderly woman went out to walk her Pekingese and spotted our man in a red Volkswagen Beetle. She was suspicious of him and took down his license number."

"I assume you ran a check on that plate," Ironside stated.

"Yes sir. However…." Ed began.

"The vehicle was stolen," Ironside finished for him.

"Yes sir, that is correct." Ed confirmed.

"Ed, find that car. It might help us in locating our killer," Ironside ordered.

"We have every available man on it. The plate number and the description have been given to every patrol car out there," Ed informed his boss.

"Anything else?"

"Yes sir. You may have been shooting blind Chief, but you shot him. We found blood in the general area you said he was shooting from. We are having that checked right now. We also found shells from a rife. Ballistics is checking them as well. Also, Mrs. Pope gave a partial description of our killer. She said he was about Carl's age with brown hair and a goatee."

"That is better than no description at all. Is it worth a shot having her describe him to a police artist?" Ironside asked.

"I doubt it. She did not get a very good look at him. He had a newspaper in front of his face."

"Well try it anyway," Ironside told him. "And work on finding that car."

"Will do. I will call as soon as we know something," Ed said. "Chief?"

"Nothing yet. She is still in surgery," Ironside said, anticipating his sergeant's question.

"You will call us as soon as you know how she is?" Ed asked.

"Yes, or Eve will." Ironside said, preparing himself for the worse. He knew he would not be able to make that call if the news was bad. Ironside hung up the phone and went back to pacing.

4.2

The killer walked over to the stove and took the knife out of the boiling water. He returned to the table, put the knife down and sat down. After tying a scarf above the bullet hole in his upper arm, he went to work. At least Ironside had shot his left arm. He would be in a hell of a fix if it had been the right. The killer took a piece of wood and put it in his mouth. He then proceeded to dig the bullet out of his arm with the knife. Agonizing pain almost made him spit out the wood to scream. _That damn cop! God, how he hated cops!_

After five long horrifying minutes, the killer threw Ironside's bullet on the table. He poured alcohol over the wound. He kept pouring it while biting down on the wood to keep from screaming in pain. _Damn lucky cop! _He could not even see him and yet he was able to shoot him. He should have taken better precautions. Staying out in the open had been stupid on his part. Ironside just plain got lucky."

He finished cleansing the wound. After bandaging up his arm, he rolled the sleeve back down. He lifted his arm. When he did, pain shot all the way up the arm. _I'll kill that cop for this! _The killer lowered his arm. He put everything away. Now he would have to tend to his arm daily to make sure it did not get infected. If it did, he would be in real trouble. He did not know of anyone he could turn to for medical help.

He knew getting to Ironside now would be next to impossible. His people, including the commissioner would insist on police protection. He would have to forget Ironside for now. There were plenty of other cops he could use for target practice.

4.3

Vic Richards got off the plane with his and Lois's two girls. After collecting their luggage, Vic hailed a taxi. "Take us to a hotel nearest San Francisco General Hospital, please."

The driver nodded and eased the taxi out into traffic. Vic Richards looked out the window. He could not forget the shock of the news report of the shots fired at Robert Ironside. They had missed him but Lois had been seriously wounded in the process. Although some of the pain of losing Lois had subsided somewhat, Vic knew he still loved her. He refused to think of her as Barbara. It brought back painful memories of losing her to Ironside. Vic had come to respect Ironside. He knew he was a good man. He had risked his life to save him and Barbara. He had been honorable when it was discovered that Barbara was actually Lois. He did not attempt to contact her while Vic and Lois had attempted to rebuild their lives.

Ironside had raced to their aide to help locate their kidnapped daughter. Vic had almost felt sorry for Ironside after Lois had fallen from that cliff and her memory of him had been erased. It meant that he and Lois could once again have a real loving relationship. But as her memory of the San Francisco detective began to return, it became clear that she loved Ironside and not him.

It had been extremely difficult lying in a hospital bed, listening to the woman he loved declare her love for Robert Ironside. He had wanted to hate him but he could not. Vic had to admit that Robert Ironside remained honorable throughout the difficulties Vic and Lois had faced. He again had not contacted Lois at anytime that she had been with him and the girls. Lois, in fact had sought out the detective.

Ironside had been relentless in tracking down the Moonlight killer. He had found Vic in time and saved his life from the mad man who had taken him hostage. Under all these circumstances, how could he possibly hate the man? How could he blame Ironside for loving Lois? After all, he himself had loved her for years. He hated to admit it but he actually admired the man not only as a police detective but also as a man. If circumstances were different, the two of them could have been friends.

Now all he could think of was due to her association with Ironside, Lois was now fighting for her life in a hospital. How could she stay with a man whose job put her in constant danger? Maybe, just maybe she was tired of it. He knew from what he had read that a drug dealer had tried to use Lois as hostage against Ironside. His people were able to prevent a tragic ending to that episode. Now this, how could she stay with him? Maybe he could convince her to leave him for her own safety and for the good of the girls.

He had read in the paper Ironside and Lois had been shot at in front of her apartment building. What was Robert Ironside doing at her apartment at eight thirty in the morning? Vic tried to push the thought out of his mind. Even imagining her with him caused deep pain. He did not want to deal with it right now. He did not want to fight or argue with Ironside. He only wanted Lois to face what it would do to their girls if something happened to her because of Ironside's job. Even if she left Ironside and refused to be with him, there might be a chance that in the future she would change her mind and they could repair their shattered relationship.

He truly did not want to hurt Ironside. He did not want the man to go through what he had been going through. He was sure Ironside was worried out of his mind right now. Nevertheless, he wanted what was best for Lois and his girls and Vic could not believe that was Ironside.

The cab driver pulled up in front of the hotel and said, "The hospital is just about three quarters of a mile up the road."

Vic thanked him and paid the fare. Bellhops came out of the hotel and took their baggage. Vic and the girls headed into the motel. He would check in and then the three of them would head for the hospital.

4.4

Officer Mike Justin looked out his window. There sitting at the corner across the street was a red Volkswagen Beetle. Officer Justin picked up his police radio receiver. Just as he did, a man came out of the restaurant, got in the Volkswagen and started it up.

Justin put the receiver back down. Where in the hell was his partner? He started up the patrol car and waited. When the Volkswagen pulled from the cub, Justin pulled into traffic, careful to follow at a distance. He picked his radio receiver back up but the Volkswagen started picking up speed and darting in and out of traffic. Justin put the receiver back down and concentrated on staying behind the Volkswagen. He was tempted to pull close enough to read the plate number but he knew that would only serve to be revealed as a tail. He decided to stay back.

The red Volkswagen turned onto a highway out of town. Justin did not like it. He was traveling out of town, his partner had been left behind and he had not reported where he was going. So far, he had not followed any standard procedure. However, if this was the red Volkswagen Chief Ironside was looking for, then he had the opportunity to apprehend the man that shot Ironside's woman. That would put him in good with the one man who could accelerate his career. So far, Ironside had not even noticed him. The last time he was assigned to help on a case that Ironside was investigating, he was nothing more than one of a dozen or more officers that had been there when the arrest was made. Now he was the man. He would be the one that brought in the cop killer, the killer of Gates & Cook and Timothy Powers. This is the man that tried to kill Ironside, San Francisco's godfather of the police department.

Justin sped up his car. It was time to let this guy know he was on his tail. He could not out run him. After all Mike Justin had been a racecar driver until his father had talked him into becoming a police officer. He was tired of being a street cop. He wanted to be a detective. He had been looking for this car ever since he heard the news of the shooting. He would show Ironside he would make a good detective. Just wait until Ironside found out how he had located this car.

The Volkswagen started speeding up. Justin looked at his speedometer. The driver of the Beetle has sped up to eighty miles an hour. Justin simply stepped on the pedal and matched his speed. He turned on the siren. That should get his attention, he thought.

The Volkswagen was now doing ninety-five miles an hour. That was nothing to Mike Justin. He had traveled at speeds of way over a hundred miles an hour. Justin laughed at the driver. He would never get away from him.

The Volkswagen suddenly turned off the road. It was headed toward a cornfield. Justin turned his patrol car toward the Beetle in pursuit. He watched as the Volkswagen drove into the huge cornfield and disappeared. Justin entered the cornfield, mowing down stalks as he went along. The Red Volkswagen was nowhere in sight. He slowed down. He did not understand where he could have gone he was right behind him. He could not have gone far.

4.5

The killer laughed at the stupidity of the cop in the black and white. He had allowed him to lead him out of town and followed him in to the cornfield. He had just made his choice easy. This would be the next cop to join the list of the others. The killer made a sharp turn to the left and mowed down the corn in front of him. He turned in a circle and drove across the path in which he had entered. By the time that dumb cop caught up he would not know which path he had taken. The killer laughed again. Bringing the Beetle to a near stop, he opened the window and listened. There he was just up at the turned off to the right, the original path he had taken. The killer picked up speed and moved up ahead of the cop. He was sure the cop would not have enough sense to open his window and listen for him. No, he would keep that window closed for the comfort of the air conditioning.

The killer pulled a gun out of the glove compartment. He put his left hand out the window, aimed and shot out the back tire of the patrol car. He turned the wheel to the right and drove back into the cover of the cornfield. He stopped and got out of the car. The killer opened the trunk and pulled out his rifle. He headed in the direction of where the patrol car had been pulled to a stop by the police officer. He walked out in front of the vehicle and waited.

4.6

Officer Mike Justin got out of his patrol car, pulled his service revolver. So he wanted to play it this way. Well, he was going to find out he had paid attention at the academy. He would track him down. Justin followed the mowed down path in the circle the killer had made and ended back at the original path. He could see his patrol car up ahead. He crossed the path and entered the mowed path on the other side. Up ahead he could see the red Beetle. He approached the Beetle as quietly as he could. Justin reached in the vehicle and checked the registration, which he found in the glove compartment. The vehicle belonged to a Christopher Gunther. Four guns of different makes and models were lying on the back passenger seat. Justin checked the guns. He picked up a rife and smelled the barrel. The rife had been fired recently.

The trunk of the Beetle was open. He walked over and looked inside….more guns. Geez…this guy was a one-man army. Justin began to worry what this killer was carrying. Did he have a gun with a sight on it? He decided not to stay on these mowed paths. Justin move into the cornfield. He began making his way back to the patrol car. He needed help. He would call for backup. He would still get credit for finding the cop killer. Maybe he would even get a citation from Chief Ironside, himself. He smiled at the thought. After several minutes, he found his way back to his patrol car. The driver's door was open. He was sure he had closed that door when he left. Mike Justin looked around. No one was in sight. Justin sat back down in the driver's seat of his vehicle and picked up the radio receiver. "This is patrol car six. I have located the red Volkswagen Beetle that is wanted in the attempted shooting of Chief Ironside." Mike Justin felt a sharp pain in his forehead and slumped forward into the steering wheel.

The killer approached the patrol car and picked up the radio receiver. "The police officer driving this vehicle is dead. That is four dead officers. Tell Ironside, I won't miss next time." The killer left the vehicle and ran out in the cornfield to a black Chevrolet Malibu. He got in and drove over to the Volkswagen. After clearing his guns from the car and moving them to the Malibu, he pushed the pedal all the way down and headed out of the cornfield at eighty miles an hour.

4.7

Vic Richards entered the hospital hall toward the O.R. waiting room. Leslie and Tracy Richards followed behind him. When they reached the waiting room, Tracy spotted the man in the wheelchair. "Uncle Bob!" she shouted as she ran town Robert Ironside. Ironside scooped the little girl into his arms and hugged her. Leslie put her arms around the man who had saved her life and kissed his cheek.

"Girls, I would like to talk to Chief Ironside alone. Please wait outside."

"Dad, take it easy on him. He's just as worried as we are," Leslie whispered to her father. She took Tracy's hand and left the room.

Ironside turned to his police officer. "Eve."

Eve got up and walked toward the door. "I'll be outside if you need me, Chief. I will not be far."

Vic Richards walked over to Robert Ironside. After hesitating for a moment, he offered his hand, "Chief."

Ironside shook his hand with a firm grip. "Vic, I owe you an apology. I should have called you and the girls right away. I have been so worried about Barbara, I just did not even think of calling you."

Vic grabbed a chair and sat down beside the detective. "Forget it Chief. I probably would have done the same thing if the situation were reverse. Any word yet on Lois's condition?"

Ironside shook his head. He noticed Vic has used her given name instead of the name Barbara chose to go by. "Barbara, her name is Barbara. As far as I know, she is still in surgery. They have not been up to talk to me yet."

Vic could see the worry in Ironside's eyes. As jealous as this man made him feel, he had to remember that Ironside had fallen in love with Lois when she did not know her identity. Ironside did not know she was married to him at the time. He was an honorable man. He had something to say and he wanted to be as respectful as he could. Ironside did not deserve to be attacked simply because he loved Lois.

Ironside waited. When Vic said nothing, he said, "Vic, you obviously have something to say to me. The easiest way is just to come out and say it."

"I want you to know that my opinion of you has changed since I first met you. My dislike for you was based on jealousy. I did not want you anywhere near Lois. After everything that has happened, I find myself respecting you as a detective and more importantly as a man."

"Thank you for that," Ironside said.

"I know you are hurting right now and I do not wish to add to that pain. I have experienced enough of it myself lately. However, I must tell you that I am going to try to convince Lois that a relationship with a man who has a target on his back for every kook and criminal in the city San Francisco will only bring her grief. It will result in an eventual breakup or death, yours or hers. I know she will not come back to me and I do not intend to try to get her to do so but I will try to convince her to leave you for the sake of the girls. I do not want the girls to lose their mother," Vic finished and looked at Ironside for a reaction but his face was granite hard with no expression.

"I understand Vic. If I were in your place, I probably would be saying the same thing but today Barbara saved my life. She might very well lose her own because of it. If she survives, I have no intention of giving her up. I will find a way to protect her better. I have no desire to enter into a conflict with you but if you try to interfere with Barbara and me, you will find me a very worthy adversary." Ironside looked directly into Vic Richard's eyes. "I love her Vic."

Vic nodded. "I had to be honest with you, Chief. I owed you that much."

"And I have been honest with you, the last thing your girls need is a fight between you and me over Barbara. She has chosen me. You must accept that. My job and how it affects her or me is our business, not yours."

Vic was about to say something when Eve walked back in. Behind her was a doctor who was in surgery attire. Eve walked over to Ironside and stood behind him. She draped her arms around his neck.

"Chief Ironside?" The doctor asked.

"Yes," Ironside said quietly.

"Ms. Jones is out of surgery." He glanced over at Vic Richards.

"Doctor, this is Vic Richards. He is a member of the family." Ironside told him.

The doctor then addressed both of them. "As I was saying Ms. Jones is out of surgery. I must tell you it was touch and go there for a while. We almost lost her. She did come through. The bullet entered her left lung, which collapsed. He was lodged very close to the heart. That is what has taken so long. It was very delicate work. We were able to remove it. We repaired the damage to the lung and re-inflated it. She lost a lot of blood so we had to do a transfusion. The next forty-eight hours will be critical. She will be placed in critical care for around the clock observation. She is doing as well as can be expected. She is by no means out of danger. We will do everything we can to make sure she makes a complete recovery."

"Can I see her?" Ironside asked.

"She is sedated. She will not know you are there," the doctor.

"I must see her," Ironside insisted.

"I would like to see her as well. Her daughters are right outside," Vic said.

"I am sorry but only the husband can see her," the doctor said.

"I am her husband!" Vic said raising his voice. He calmed and lowered his voice. "That is I am her ex-husband."

The doctor looked between Ironside and Richards. "I am sorry Mr. Richards but when Ms. Jones was brought in she said Chief Ironside was a good as being her husband and insisted we give him full rights to make decisions for her. She signed a statement to that effect. He will be the only one permitted to see her."

Vic Richards face was full of anger but he contained it and said nothing further.

The doctor turned to go and then suddenly turned back. "Chief, you did mention that Ms. Jones has a history of losing her memory."

"It happened twice after trauma," Ironside said. "Why do you bring it up?"

"Chief, because of that history, I cannot rule out that when she wakes she may not remember anything or…..anyone."

Ironside looked back at Eve. He then looked at Vic Richards who looked almost pleased.


	5. Chapter 5

Operation: Kill a Cop

Chapter 05

5.1

Carl Reese opened the door to Ironside's office and hurried down the ramp. Ed and Mark looked up at him. The three of them had gotten back to the station only an hour ago. Ed could see from the look on Carl's face something was wrong. "Carl, what's wrong?" He asked him.

"The dispatcher just got a call from the cop killer. He claimed the officer who was driving the patrol car is dead. We need to find Officer Mike Justin."

"How do we know it is him?" Mark asked.

"Because his partner said he took the patrol car and left him at the restaurant. He has not been seen since and he is not answering his radio," Carl answered.

"Did you have them check the vehicle's GPS," Ed asked.

"Yes, He's on a highway outside of town. Or according to the GPS, he's in a cornfield off the highway."

"Let's go. Mark, stay here in case the chief calls in. If he calls about Barbara, call me on the car's mobile phone. If you don't reach me, call my cell phone. Let's go Carl."

Brown and Reese left the office on the run.

5.2

Ironside wheeled his chair into the recovery room. Barbara was lying on the bed with tubes hooked to her and breathing oxygen from the tube in her nose. He sat at the door for a moment looking at her. _Could this be my fault? Am I destined to be alone? Another woman I loved deeply was taken from me because of this job. Would history repeat?_

He wheeled over to her. He laid his hand over hers, rubbing it with his thumb. He ran the fingers of his other hand down her cheek. No, he knew better than to blame himself. This was the fault of the maniac hell bent on killing cops. How did he know where to find him? Only his own staff knew where he was. Did this mean the man had been following him and he did not realize it? Or worse, had he been stalking Barbara? No, that did not make sense. He did not shoot at Barbara. She was only shot because she pushed him out of the way and placed herself in the line of fire. He was definitely after him. He just could not think right now. Nothing was making sense and he knew it was because he just could not concentrate right now.

Ironside took Barbara's hand in his. "The doctor said you would not know I am here but I don't believe that. I know you can feel my presence just as much as I feel yours, even when you are not with me. You have to fight Barbara. You have to live. We both have so much that has not been said between us. We have so much we have not done. I'll be right here in the hospital waiting until you wake up." He kissed her hand and set it back down beside her. The detective turned and wheeled out of recovery.

Vic Richards was waiting for him when he arrived back at the waiting room. He stood up when Ironside entered the room. "How is she?"

"She is resting comfortably, Vic." Ironside answered.

Leslie and Tracy both walked over to Ironside. Leslie put her arms around the man she knew her mother now loved. "She'll be fine. You will see. And when she comes home, we'll go on a picnic. Maybe we will even stay with you at the police station."

Vic watched his daughters with Ironside and he could not help but feel a pang of jealousy. What kind of hold did this man have on the females in his family. He lost Lois to him and the girls loved him. Vic had sick feeling he was losing his family altogether.

As if she could sense her father's unease, Leslie walked back to her father and put her hand in his.

Eve Whitfield walked into the waiting room. "Chief, Ed just called. Another cop has been murdered."

Ironside set Tracy down. "When?"

"Officer Mike Justin called into the dispatcher that he had found the red Volkswagen. Then another voice came on the radio and said that he was dead."

"Where was he found?"

"Carl had the patrol car's GPS checked. They traced the vehicle to a cornfield outside of town. Carl and Ed are headed there now."

"Eve, get in touch with Ed and tell him to call me as soon as he has accessed the scene. I want you to get back to the office and pick up those files on the men we have arrested. You and I will go over them while Ed and Carl check out Mike Justin's murder."

'Chief, I don't think I should leave you by your…."

"I'm fine, Eve. Go back to the office and bring back those files. I want to stay a while just until I know Barbara is out of danger."

"Chief, that could be a couple days," Eve protested.

"Eve, go get the files," Ironside said softly.

"Alright. I'll get them but I am coming right back. Leslie, will you look out after Chief Ironside for me?" Eve asked the girl.

"Yes, Officer Whitfield. I'll make sure he is not alone," the girl said.

"Me too," Tracy spoke up.

"We'll keep an eye on him, Eve," Vic said.

Eve kissed Ironside's cheek and left the waiting room.

5.3

Ed and Carl arrived at the scene of Justin's murder. After a few minutes of searching in the cornfield paths, they locate the patrol car. Sgt. Brown checked Justin's pulse in his neck. It was nonexistent.

Lt. Carl Reese came up behind Ed. "Is he dead?"

Ed shook his head in the affirmative. "Shot in the forehead. Right through the windshield."

"From the looks of it Mike followed him in here. Our killer took him on a Wolff goose chase." Carl said.

"He knew better. He should not have gone after him alone. Justin is one of the guys the chief had been keeping an eye on to recommend for promotion to detective. He had a lot going for him."

"That could have been what was driving him Ed. Everyone knows the chief can make or break a promotion. He may have been trying to impress him." Carl guessed.

"You do not impress the chief by breaking the rules. Even if he had caught the guy, he may have become a hero to the police department, he would have been in trouble with the chief.

"Lieutenant," called out a patrolman. "We found a red Volkswagen."

"Go ahead Carl. I"ll take care of Justin," Ed said. As Carl left the scene, Ed called out, "Get a team over here to dust for prints!" He picked up the phone in the car. "Patch me through to Chief Ironside."

5.4

Ironside began pacing in his chair. He was angry, frustrated and worried...about his staff, about his police force, about Leslie and Tracy, even Vic but most of all he was worried about Barbara. He felt so helpless sitting here waiting to find out if the woman he loved would live or die.

Vic watched as his rival for Barbara's affections paced back and forth. He waited until Robert Ironside was furthest away from the girls. Vic walked over to him. "Chief, it is going to be a while. If you keep this up you are going to wear a hole in the carpeting...not to mention you are driving me crazy."

Ironside smiled. "I am truly sorry for all the pain you have been put through. I have no desire to see you hurt."

Vic look at Ironside and said, "I know that chief. I know you did not seek out Lois while she was with me. I do not blame you for this situation. I do not even blame her. It is no one's fault. No one plans on falling in love. It just happens."

"You still love her don't you?"

"Yes. I have loved her since we were kids." Vic answered honestly. "I must be honest with you. I am hoping she doesn't remember you when she wakes up."

Ironside released a short breath. "She is not going to lose her memory. You have to let go, Vic. Move on with your life and accept that Barbara is with me now.

Vic looked at Ironside who could see the pain in his eyes. "You do not understand. She is the only woman I have ever loved."

"She made her choice. You can not change that."

"We will see. She may not remember anything about you. I will wait until she wakes up before I make any decisions for the future."

Ironside shook his head. "You are only prolonging the pain. She will not forget me again. Even if she did, her memory would return. I know nothing will be wrong with her memory though."

"How can how you possibly know that?" Vic asked him.

Ironside smiled. "I just know. Too much has happened between us for her to forget. I just know Vic." He put his hand on Richards' shoulder. "I mean it when I say I don't want you hurt any further. You are holding on to a woman who no longer loves you. I stayed away to give the two of you time to repair your relationship. She still chose me. Please Vic, let go. You are only setting yourself up for more pain. I don't want that, I really don't."

"Look, Bob…..I am sorry, I mean Chief." Vic corrected himself.

"Bob is fine. If anyone has earned the right to call me by my first name, you have."

"Alright…..Bob, I promise you, if she still wants you when she wakes up, then I will step aside for good and move on," Vic said quietly.

Ironside felt for the man. He knew how much he, himself loved Barbara. He knew how much pain it had brought him when he thought he had lost her for good. He hated to see Vic go through that. "Fair enough, but I will warn you, even if there is a memory loss, I will fight to keep her."

Vic smiled. "Fair enough." He sat quietly for a moment and then said. "If circumstances were different…."

"….I would invite you out for a drink," Ironside said. "We don't need to be enemies you know."

"We're not. That ended when you saved my daughter…..and when you saved my life. Under different circumstances we could have been friends."

"We can Vic, if you can accept things and move on. We will be seeing each other because of the girls. I would prefer we were for their sake," Ironside said, "if for no other reason."

Vic Richards looked away from the detective. "For the girls' sake," he nodded.

5.5

"Damn it!" Ed shouted after reading the report that Carl handed him. "There wasn't any figure prints found in either vehicle? Are you sure?"

"It doesn't say that. Mike Justin's finger prints were found in both vehicles. But other than that the Volkswagen was wiped clean. The killer did not leave any prints in the patrol car either. He either had on gloves or he wiped the radio receiver clean after he used it," Carl said.

"Did he leave anything in the Volkswagen?" Eve asked.

"Nothing," Carl answered.

"It points to…" Ed began.

"…..a pro," Carl finished for him.

"He must have left some kind of clue," Mark suggested.

"I'll be damn if I know what it is," Ed complained. "He had another vehicle in that cornfield. We found the trail back to the highway. But we have not been able to find anyone who saw or heard anything."

"Where in the Volkswagen did you find Mike's prints?" Eve asked.

"On the glove compartment, on and in the trunk, and on the driver's door. We did not even find the owner's fingerprints anywhere on the vehicle," Carl said.

"Which means he wiped that vehicle completely clean," Mark observed.

"Come on, there must have been something at the scene that can help us," Eve said.

"This guy was careful not to leave anything," Ed complained.

"I hate to say this but….." Eve said.

"…..we need the chief," Ed said.

"He sees things we don't," Carl said. "But under the circumstances how can we ask him to leave the hospital and help us?"

"We have to," Ed insisted.

"But Ed. Barbara has not regain consciousness. How can we expect him to leave until she does?" Eve asked.

"Looked this guy has already killed four cops. He came damn close to killing me. Barbara may not regain consciousness for a few days yet. How many cops will be dead by then? We need the chief," Ed said again.

"Ok, so we all agree we need him. Now who wants to tell him?" Mark asked.

Everyone remained quiet. No one wanted to ask him to leave the hospital. Ed looked at Eve.

"Don't look at me Ed Brown. I just stopped by here to pick up some files the chief wanted. I am going back to the hospital so that he is not alone." Eve said.

"Who does the chief listen to?" Ed asked.

"And who does the chief yell at the least," Carl asked.

"Certainly not me," Mark said.

"I can't do it," Eve said shaking her head.

"Eve, you are logical one to do it. The chief will listen to you," Ed kept pushing her.

"He listens to all of us," Eve argued.

"But he is a softie when it comes to you," Carl reminded her. "Look, we are not trying to put this off on you but if you can honestly say one of us would have a better chance of getting him out of that hospital then tell us which one it is."

Eve look around at her co-workers and friends. She sank down in her chair. She knew they were right. She had the best chance of convincing the chief they needed him. "All right you cowards, I'll talk to him."

Mark, Ed and Carl all grinned. "The sooner the better," Ed said.

Eve gathered up the files and began preparing in her mind what she was going to say to the boss.

5.6

Officer Jim Dawson blew his whistle again and waved the line of cars to turn. He had been here for over two hours. _Why is it when a streetlight goes out, it is always one of the busiest corners in the city of San Francisco?_ He waited for the long line of cars to

turn the corner. Dawson blew his whistle again and put his hand up to stop the oncoming traffic. Using his other hand he gestured for the oncoming traffic to come through the intersection. _Where in the hell was the repair crew and why had they not fixed this problem? I don't want to stand out in this heat for the rest of the day._

Jim had a date tonight. He would barely get home in time to change out of his uniform, let alone take the shower he was going to need….spending the day in nearly a hundred degree heat, sweating. He blew the whistle again and put his hand up.

Jim felt something sting the back of his head. Everything went black and the young police officer fell to the ground dead.

5.7

The killer put his rife back into the box. He walked calmly out of the book store and walked down the street to his car. He put the gun in the trunk and got back into the vehicle. After starting the car, he drove away in the opposite direction of the traffic jam that had begun after he killed the police officer.

The killer picked up his cell phone and dialed the police commissioner's office. "Let me speak with Commissioner Randall. This is man who is trimming the fat out of the police department."

A moment later the killer heard Commissioner Randall's voice. "This is Commissioner Randall."

"I am only going to say this just once, if the entire police force doesn't resign immediately and leave San Francisco I will continue killing them one at a time until I have eliminated all of you." He hung up the phone before Randall could say a word.

The killer smiled to himself. That ought to send a panic through downtown headquarters. There would not be a cop in that building that would want to go out on patrol now. Commissioner Randall would now go running to Robert T. Ironside to save him and his precious police force and he probably would…but not before he killed a lot more cops.

5.8

"Ed, you have been through those reports a hundred times since I brought them in. There is nothing there," Carl said.

"There has to be something here. The chief always finds something," the frustrated detective sergeant said. He put his hands up and started rubbing his temples to ease the oncoming headache.

Eve got up from the table. "I guess I have put this off as long as I possibly can. I better go talk to the chief."

The door burst open. Commissioner Dennis Randall came down the ramp. "Where's the boss."

"At the hospital," Eve said. I am just headed there. Do you want me to give him a message?"

"How is Barbara doing?" Randall asked.

"She is not awake yet, Commissioner," Eve answered.

Randall turned his attention to Ed and Carl. "What did you come up with at the Justin investigation?"

"Nothing much. Both cars were clean. No prints. The killer left nothing in the Volkswagan. No one saw him coming or going. Nobody heard the shot. We drew a big fat blank," Ed said.

Randall looked at Carl.

"Sorry Commissioner, he just didn't leave us anything we can use to find him," Carl spoke up before the commissioner asked.

"That makes four cops he has killed now," Mark said.

"Five," Randall corrected.

Carl, Ed and Mark joined Eve standing. "Five," Carl questioned.

"Five. A traffic light went out on a busy corner. Headquarters sent out Jim Dawson to direct traffic. He was shot in the back of the head. He's dead," Randall told them.

"Did anyone see anything?" Eve asked.

"That is what I want you people to find out. One other thing, the killer called me at my office just after he did it. You know, I much prefer the killers that tell you they are going to kill someone before they do. We at least have half a chance to find them before they do it. Anyway Ed, you and Carl get over there and find out what you can. I am going to the hospital with Eve." Randall gave them the address. "Mark, you better follow us in the van. Did you get the tire change?"

"Yes, already taken care of," Mark said.

"Ok, then let's go see if we can convince your boss to take over this case." He looked at Eve. "So you are the one that got elected to drag him away from the hospital?" Randall asked.

Ed and Carl looked up at the ceiling. Eve watched them and smiled. "They are scared of the chief."

"Who isn't?" Randall said.

5.9

Tracy Richards sat in Robert Ironside's lap. "Don't you worry, Uncle Bob. Mommy is going to be just fine. You'll see," she said to Ironside.

"I know that," Ironside said to the little girl with more confidence that he was feeling. He had to keep his concerns to himself. He did not want Tracy any more upset than she already was.

The waiting room door opened. Ironside turned to see Commissioner Randall and Eve Whitfield come into the room. "Commissioner."

"Bob, how is she?" Randall asked.

"No change at this time," Ironside said. "Thanks for coming."

"I have to admit….." Randall began before being interrupted.

"…don't tell me you are here because of some case because if you are I don't want to hear it," Ironside grumbled.

Eve sat down in a chair beside Chief Ironside. "Chief, you need to listen to the commissioner. It's important."

He looked at his policewoman. "Alright, what is it commissioner?"

"Our cop killer has struck again."

"I know that. I sent Carl and Ed out there to investigate the scene."

"They came up with nothing, Bob. The killer wiped his prints off both vehicles. He left nothing behind. Ed and Carl don't know much more than before they went to the scene. That is not what I am taking about."

Ironside frowned. He lowered his chin and raise his eyebrows. "Well out with it Dennis, what is going on?"

"Mike Justin."

"What about him?"

"He was shot and killed less than an hour ago while directing traffic at a corner where the light had gone out." Randall told his detective.

"Anyone see anything?" Ironside asked.

"Don't know yet. I sent Carl and Ed out to investigate."

Ironside could sense his boss was anxious. With the look on Eve Whitfield's face, it did not take Sherlock Holmes to figure out why the commission was here. "Dennis why do I get the feeling you are not just here to feed me with information."

"Bob, I know this is asking a lot right now, especially with Barbara in intensive care but….."

"…..no Dennis, I am not leaving here. Ed and Carl are the best in the department. They can handle it until I get back. I am staying here. I would think you could understand that."

"Believe me, I do understand." Randall looked to Eve for help. She stepped forward to sit down on the other side of Chief Ironside.

"Chief, we all understand why you don't want to leave here. There isn't one of us who's thoughts are not with you and Barbara right now. Chief, the commissioner is not alone in wanting you on the cop killer case. Mark, Ed, Carl and I all agree we need you. You see things and pick up on clues that we quite often miss. Five cops have been murdered, three in the last two days. This mad man seems to be determined to kill as many cops as he can. I know you have always said not to allow police work to get personal but chief, this is personal. We are cops and this man is killing cops."

"We have to find him before he kills again. Sure, we can probably solve this case sooner or later but with you directing us, with you in charge it will be done much faster. I know you want to be here. I don't blame you but chief, there is nothing you can do here but wait. The case will keep your mind busy and time will past. She will be awake before you realize it."

"Eve…." Ironside started to say.

"No, wait a minute chief. Are you really going to spend every hour here until she wakes. What if it is a week from now? Chief, how many cops will this killer kill in that time?"

Vic Richards had overheard every word. He walked slowly over to Robert Ironside. "Chief, I remember waiting all those hours when Jimmy Chard held me in that basement, wondering if I was going to die there. Because of you I didn't. If you stay here, she may not wake up for days. There are a lot of cops out there who are depending on you to stop this maniac. Chief, I promise you. The minute she wakes, you will be notified…..and I promise you I will not see her until after you do if that is what you wish."

Ironside sat silently, torn between Barbara and the family of police officers who needed him. He wanted to stay…..but he wanted to go help his police family too. His head was spinning. _Since when Robert Ironside are you so indecisive? Barbara needs me here…..the police department needs me. What if she doesn't make it and I am not here when it happens? Could I ever forgive myself? What would Barbara want me to do? That's a stupid question Ironside. She would tell you to go catch this maniac. She would insist I leave her to do it. Besides she isn't going to die. She can't, not now that they have become a real couple. There was so much more for them to share. Damn it Ironside! What the hell is the matter with you? She is in this hospital because of this maniac. _Ironside knew what he had to do.

"Mark!" He called out. Mark Sanger entered the waiting room. "Pull the van around front, that is if you bothered to fix that tire?"

Mark had a slight smile at the corner of his lips. Now that was the Ironside he knew. "The tire was changed immediately. We are set to go."

"Then why in the hell is everybody standing around for?"

Eve caught Randall's attention. He winked at her. "Chief, I'll go back to the office and go over these files. I'll set aside the ones that look promising. They will be waiting for you when you get back."

"Bob," Randall said, "there is something you should know. The killer called my office right after he killed Jim Dawson. He said he wanted the entire police force to resign and leave San Francisco or he would continue killing cops."

"So what is your decision, Dennis?"

Randall looked at Ironside as if he had lost his mind. "You really aren't expecting me to order the entire police force to resign, are you?"

"Of course not!" Ironside said. "Just wanted to make sure you hadn't lost your nerve, Dennis. I suggest we get to work and find ourselves a cop killer. Eve, I see you back at the office. Mark, pull the van around. Dennis, if you will excuse me, I want to talk to Vic and the girls."

"Good luck Bob," Randall said and left the room.

"Vic, if Barbara wakes….."

"…..I will call you immediately," Vic told him.

"If she does, don't wait for me. I will give permission for you and the girls to get into see her. Just tell her…..just tell her I love her and will be back as soon as I can."

"I promise…Chief," Vic told him.

"Girls," Ironside called Leslie and Tracy.

"It's ok Uncle Bob, we understand. You have a job to do. We will keep Mommy company until you get back," Tracy said.

Ironside kissed the little girl. Leslie kissed his cheek. "Be careful, we don't want to have to visit you in this hospital too."

Ironside turned his chair around and wheeled out of the waiting room. He had a killer to find.

5.10

The killer return to the corner where Jim Dawson had fallen. What a better place to kill another cop than the scene of a crime. There would be an abundance of cops to choose from. Maybe even one of Ironside's finest. Yes, since he missed him, just maybe he could kill one of his people. He would wait and see what cops showed up.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 06

Operation: Kill a Cop

Mark pulled the van to a stop at the where Officer Jim Dawson was killed. Sgt. Ed Brown saw the chief's van pull in. He smiled and headed the direction of the boss' vehicle. Eve and the commissioner must have had an impact on the chief. When Ed arrived at the van, Ironside was already in the lift on the way down to the street.

"Chief, is there any change in Barbara's condition?" Ed asked.

"No, Ed. She is still unconscious. What have you got?"

"Dawson was directing traffic when he brought it. The shot," Ed said pointing at the bookstore across the street, "came from there."

"Then the owner of that book store must have seen the killer."

Ed shook his head. Sorry Chief, but the killer hit the owner of the store on the head with the butt of the rife. He never even saw him."

"Mark, wheel me over there," Ironside said. Mark obliged his boss. Ed followed them both to the bookstore. Ironside wheeled into the store to see a young woman come out from the back of the store.

"May, I help you….oh I am sorry, you are Chief Ironside. I have seen you in the newspapers and on TV. What can I do for you sir?"

"This is Mark Sanger, my aide," Ironside said introducing Mark. "I am sorry; I did not get your name."

"My name is Sylvia Lawrence. My father, Harold Lawrence owns this bookstore. The police insisted he go to the hospital. He was knocked out by the man who fired the shot."

Ironside looked around. The killer had to have made that shot from the front of the store. Then why wasn't he spotted? He wheeled back to the front of the store. None of the windows opened. "Ed, where did the killer shoot from?"

"He must have shot Dawson from the doorway," Ed replied. "There is no other way he could have done it."

Ironside shook his head. "There is no flaming way he shot Dawson from that doorway without being seen. No, Ed. There has to be another explanation."

"I don't know what it would be. The front windows do not open as you can see. There are no bullet holes anywhere in the windows. The only open place is the doorway."

"Alright, where are your witnesses?' Ironside asked.

"Witnesses?"

"Witnesses! Ed," Ironside said gruffly "Do you expect me to believe the man stood in that doorway with a rife, pointed it, shot and killed Dawson and no one saw it?"

"Well, we did not find anyone who saw it. But Carl is still questioning people."

Ironside wheeled to the door. He looked across the street when Officer James Dawson had been murdered. It was all wrong. The angle was completely wrong. "Ed, come here."

Brown walked over to his boss. "Go ahead Ed. Shoot Dawson from this position." Ironside wheeled backwards allowing Brown to stand in his previous position. Brown held his arms up as if he had a rife in them and pointed toward the corner. "What do you see Ed?"

Brown shrugged. "I see the corner where Dawson was killed. He could have shot him from here."

Lt. Carl Reese was walking toward the bookstore. When he reached the door, he looked at Ed and Ironside. He glanced at the windows. "Are they sure he fired from here? Who would shoot and murder a man from here? Anyone could have seen him."

"That seems to be bothering the chief too," Ed said.

"How many witnesses did you come up with Lieutenant." Ironside frowned while looking at Reese.

"Sorry chief, not a single witness that I can find."

"Then he did not shoot Dawson from this door," Ironside said raising his voice.

"Chief Ironside," Sylvia Lawrence called out.

Ironside wheeled around in her direction. "Yes, Miss Lawrence.

"To the right there is a hidden stairway that goes upstairs. My father keeps a great deal of books up there. It does have windows that open. Maybe the man shot your officer from up there?"

Carl shook his head, "Not possible."

"Why not," Ironside asked.

"Because the shot went straight into his scull. If he had been shot from the floor above then the bulled would have entered on an angle downward," Carl answered.

"Then we are back to where we started," Ed said. "That leaves no other place but this doorway."

"Ed, the killer did not shoot from this doorway," Ironside snarled.

"Do you have another explanation, Chief?" Ed asked.

"No, but that doesn't mean there isn't another explanation Sergeant."

Ed rolled his eyes behind the chief. He knew he was right but he hated it when he shot down his theories but did not offer any of his own. He watched as Ironside wheeled down the length of the store windows.

Ironside looked back at Sylvia Lawrence. "Is there another room next to this one that you father has access to?"

"No sir. Just this room and the one above it," she answered.

Ironside was showing his frustration. He wheeled back toward the door. "Ed, how many people would you say have walked past this store since we came in here?"

"I don't know….maybe a dozen or more. Someone should have seen him, I know."

"How quickly were our boys on the scene after the shot?" Ironside asked.

"Almost immediately," Ed answered. There were three patrol cars in the next block. A false alarm at the Wells Fargo Bank. They came down here immediately."

"So our killer shot Dawson from this door and then walked out of here with a rifle in his hand past three patrol cars?" Ironside said unbelievably.

"Chief…"Ed began.

"Ed, there is no way he shot from this door. Now find another way," Ironside growled.

Ed and Carl started checking the glass again. They went up and down it and still came up empty handed. It was then Ironside noticed the corner of the wall seem to be loose. Loose, that doesn't make any sense, he thought. He wheeled over to the corner. He pressed against the wall. It unlatched and a door opened. Ironside looked inside it was dark. "Ed, Carl!"

Both men hurried over to the corner. Ed pushed his way past his boss. Carl followed him into the room. They were in there for a couple minutes when Ironside ran out of patience. "What in the blazes are you doing?"

"Chief," shouted Ed excitedly. A square piece has been removed from the building. He could have shot from here."

Ironside wheeled into the room. He looked down at the floor. He bent over and touched his fingers to a powder that laid on the floor. He smelled the powder. "Cement dust."

"Over here chief," Carl shouted. "He could have used this." Carl showed Ironside an electric tool that was used for cutting cement.

The chief sat quietly for a moment. Carl and Ed knew better than to bother him when he did that. "How long would it have taken him to cut through that cement?" Ironside asked.

"I would estimate close to an hour," Carl said.

"Did Harold Lawrence say what time he was struck?"

"I don't know?" Carl answered.

"Well don't you think we better find out?" Ironside complained.

"I'll find out." Carl said.

"I want the ballistics report on Dawson and the on Justin. I want it established that both men were killed by the same gun. Find out if Barbara was shot with that gun as well"

"I'll take care of it Chief." Ed offered.

"Why the difference?" Ironside wondered.

Ed and Carl looked confused.

"The murders. Query….why did he kill his first victims by running Cook and Gates off the road, then murder Powers by braining him, try to run Ed down with a car and then shoot Barbara, Justin and Dawson. Why not just shoot them all?"

"Maybe he did not have the opportunity to shoot Cook and Gates," Carl suggested. "Maybe it was just easier to shoot the patrol car out from underneath them."

"Alright, then why did he not just shoot Powers. Why did he clobber him while in the bathtub? He could have just shot him," Ironside said with a frown.

"Have we considered the fact that he did not kill the first three…that possibly the killings are not related?" Ed asked.

"What does all of these cases have in common?" Ironside asked.

"They are all cops," Ed said.

"Barbara is not a cop," Carl said.

"I think we can safely say the chief was the target of that shooting. Barbara got in the way," Ed added.

"What else?" Ironside asked his detectives.

"The killer has not left finger prints at any of the scenes," Ed said.

"Chief, I don't think there is any significance that the first three were not shot. An opportunity presented itself and he took it," Carl said.

"No, I don't buy that Carl. I think the killer has a reason for what he is doing. Something about this is familiar. I just cannot put my finger on it. Carl, I had asked Ed to recheck the facts in the Cook and Gates accident. I want you to go back over everything. I'll have Eve do the same with Powers. Something just doesn't add up. No, our killer is trying to send us a message. We just have to help him get that message to us….before he kills any more cops. Let's go."

"Thank you, Miss Lawrence. Please stay out of that room until I can get a team in to go over it."

"Of course, Chief Ironside," Sylvia said.

The three detectives left the bookstore and headed back to the van. "Chief, I'll stay here and oversee the boys going over that room," Carl said.

"Good idea, Carl. If you come up with anything, I'll be at Headquarters," Ironside said.

"Chief….welcome back," Carl said. "What you did in there is the reason we pulled you away from Barbara. We're sorry we had to but….we need you."

Carl headed away from the van. Mark pushed the button and the lift came down to move Ironside into the van. Ironside wheeled around and backed onto the lift. Mark pushed the button and the lift went up.

Ed got into the van on the passenger side. Just as he slammed the door, the crack of a rife could be heard. Lt. Carl Reese went down.

6.2

The afternoon sun shined bright in the hospital waiting room. Vic Richards laid on the couch. He appeared to be sound asleep. The girls were entertaining themselves playing word games. Tracy stopped suddenly. She glanced over at her father. "I am worried about Daddy," she told her sister.

Leslie took her sister's hand in hers and said, "Me too. He doesn't seem to understand that Mom has someone new in her life."

"You mean Uncle Bob?" Tracy asked.

Leslie smiled. "He really is not our uncle."

"I know that. That is something you call someone when you are fond of them but are not allowed to just call them by their first name."

Leslie squeezed her hand again. "Does it bother you that Mom and Dad are not together?"

"Yes. I don't understand. I thought Moms and Dads loved each other. Our Mom and Dad do not. Do you think it has to do with Mommy losing her memory?"

"I guess so but I think there was more wrong between them than that. Otherwise I just don't see how she could fall in love with another man," Leslie answered.

"You mean Uncle Bob?"

"Yes, I mean Uncle Bob.

"Do you like Uncle Bob," Tracy asked.

Leslie smiled. "What's not to like. He saved my life. He saved Dad's life and he loves Mom. He's kind and he's a famous police officer. I love him."

"I love him too. Does that mean Daddy won't be our daddy anymore if Uncle Bob becomes our daddy?"

"No, Dad will always be our father. It will be like we have two dads."

"But Daddy seams so sad," Tracy whispered.

"That's because he won't accept that Mom doesn't love him."

"Is that my fault?"

Leslie took her sister in her arms. "No, don't you ever think that. Sometimes moms and dads spilt up. It happens. It has nothing to do with you or me."

"Will we live with Uncle Bob?"

"Mom has her own apartment but we will be spending a lot of time with Uncle Bob."

"I don't understand. Who will live with Daddy?"

"We will, part of the time. The rest of the time we will be with Mom and Uncle Bob."

Tracy was quiet for a few minutes. "Is Mommy going to die?"

"No don't you worry. She will be fine. Uncle Bob will find the man who shot her. He will protect us. He always protects us. He protected Mom and Dad and he protected you and me. He will make sure we are all safe."

Vic Richards listened to his daughters. It broke his heart. _Ironside would protect them_. They did not even look at him as their protector. Ironside had taken over that role in their eyes. He had been right; he was losing his daughters to Ironside as well. He did not blame Ironside but his only hope of putting his family back together was Lois's memory. If only she could forget him this time for good.

He would be the one to be here when Lois woke up. He would show her that he loved her more than Ironside. Ironside loved her but he loved his police force more. But it only matter who Lois loved. Ironside was right about one thing, if Lois chose Ironside again when she woke up, then he would have to find the strength to move on. He would have to concentrate on his girls. They had to know he loved them and he would protect him. They loved Ironside. Vic knew that. He had even tried to help them understand it was not Ironside's fault. Vic knew that had done the right thing but could their rejection of Ironside have helped Lois to see what she had done to her family?

Vic knew that all he could do was wait and see who Lois remembered and who she wanted to be with. All that was left to do was wait.

6.3

Officer Whitfield rubbed eyes. She looked at the size of the pile of files in front of her. It boggled the mind how many arrests, how many cases the chief had been involved in. It was living proof the man deserved his reputation. With him in the city, it was a wonder any one attempted a crime in the city of San Francisco.

It was however a sober reminder how many enemies the chief had made over the years. The murder convictions were not much of a worry since those people would still be behind bars. There were so many lesser crimes that the chief had solved.

Eve stacked the files in piles. Criminals the chief had arrested. The first piled contained all the files in which the subject had threaten a cop. A lot of them of course threaten the chief himself. The second pile was subjects suspected of killing cops but the department had been unable to prove it. The third pile contained suspects that had attacked cops.

Eve looked at the files piled before her on this table and two others. The chief had his work cut out for him. Eve didn't see how he would be able to make anything out of these files unless something broke in the case. Murders with no fingerprints, witnesses or clues would make it hard to connect any of these with what was going on in San Francisco.

Eve got up. She headed for the kitchen. The chief would be hungry. Nothing worked better to put him in a good mood than a bowel of chili. Eve put on a pot of coffee, and then went to work in the kitchen.

6.4

Ironside looked in the direction the shot had been fired. He saw a man jump down out of a tree and start running away from the scene. "Ed!" Ironside shouted. "There!" He pointed at the man running. Brown jumped out of the van, pulled his service revolver and ran after the man.

Mark took off toward Carl. When the lift reached the top, Ironside grabbed the police radio receiver. "This is Ironside. Officer down! I need an ambulance on the corners of LaSalle and Lincoln. All available units, suspect heading down LaSalle on foot. Sgt. Ed Brown is in pursuit."

Ironside got back into the lift and press the button. When he reached the ground, he joined Mark and Carl. Mark had torn his jacket and had it in his hand, pressing against Carl's wound. Ironside looked at his downed lieutenant. "Hang on Carl. Help is on the way."

"Chief…." Carl tried to say.

"Don't talk Carl. There's an ambulance on the way. Just lay still," Ironside told him. His voice was calm but he was fuming. He hated losing cops. Now two people he cared about were fighting for their lives. Ironside wanted this man. He could hear the sound of an ambulance in the distance. He hoped they would be in time.

6.5

Ed Brown ran as fast as he could. He was gaining on the man running away from him. His longer legs made for a longer stride. The would be killer ducked down a side street. Ed followed. He could see him up ahead. He knew the chief would have called in back up. Where were they? They could have cut this man off by now. Instead Ed found himself running after the man alone. This was probably the man that shot Carl and more than likely the killer of five police officers. Ed had to catch him.

Ed spotted cover behind a tree. The man up ahead pointed a gun at him. Ed ducked behind the tree. He felt the bullet of a silenced gun wiz on by the tree. He peaked out. The man was once again on the run. Ed took off after him once again. He turned down an alley. As Ed reached the alley, the killer shot at him. Ed dropped to the ground in time for the bullet to fly on by him.

Ed got off the ground and using trashcans, fence posts and anything else he could take cover behind, worked his way down the alley. He could not see the killer any longer. Ed moved silently and carefully forward. Uneasiness was setting in. Where did he go? Ed continued his search as he moved further down the alley. He reached a point in the alley where there just wasn't anything he could conceal himself behind. He looked in every direction before stepping out in the open. Then he felt pain in the back of his head. Sgt. Ed Brown's world went black.


	7. Chapter 7

Operation: Kill a Cop

Chapter 07

Ironside kept looking down the road in the direction in which Ed had run after Carl's assailant. Where was he? He should be back by now. Mark approached his boss. "Chief, don't you think it would be better if you got back inside the van?

"Why?" Ironside snapped.

"You a sitting duck out here in the open," Mark pointed out. "And some maniac is running around killing cops. Isn't that reason enough?"

Ironside ignored Mark's plea and wheeled over to Lt. Gleason of Homicide. "Lieutenant!"

Gleason turned around at the familiar sound of Ironside's voice, one he knew no cop in his right mind ignored. "Yes chief."

"Has Sgt. Brown reported back to you?"

"No Chief but I would think he would report directly to you, sir."

"What about the units that were ordered to help him find the man that ran from here after Lt. Reese was shot?"

"They have all reported back in. They were unable to find him."

"I want a team sent out to locate Sgt. Brown. Mr. Sanger will accompany them," Ironside ordered.

Gleason nodded. He called a couple officers over to him and gave them instructions. "Mark! They are ready if you are." Mark joined the officers and they quickly left the area.

A young officer was walking toward Gleason. He was carrying a rife in a gloved hand. "Lieutenant, this was found in the tree the shooter jumped down from.

Ironside took the rife from the young man using his handkerchief. He smelled the barrel. The rife had definitely been fire recently. "Get it in for ballistic testing," Ironside barked. "What about that room off the book store where Jim Dawson was shot from?"

"It has been dusted for prints, Chief. There was nothing there in the way of evidence. We also dusted the store itself but as you can image there were hundreds of prints," Gleason reported.

"Check them all against the data base," Ironside ordered.

"But Chief!" Gleason protested. Ironside gave him a look that left no room for argument. Gleason shook his head. "Alright Chief. We will get them for you in a couple days."

"Today!" Ironside growled.

"Today?" Gleason said in disbelief. He saw the look on Ironside's face and said in resignation, "Today."

Ironside turned and wheeled his chair toward the tree which the shooter had shot Carl from. Officers cleared a path for him as he reached each of them. They knew better than to get in Ironside's way with the mood he was in.

Ironside looked up into the tree. A platform had been built in the tree. He could barely see it through the leaves but it was definitely there. He looked around for a police officer. None were within shouting distance. On the ground a few feet away from him was a shell. How could they miss that, he thought. He wheeled his chair over the uneven ground. It was times like this he wish he had the motorized chair. He did not use it because he felt it made him look weak. He need to be seen by his men wheeling himself not being motored around.

7.2

Mark walked down the alley with two police officers. They had been walking the streets for almost an hour with no sign of Ed. As they moved down an alley one of the officers said, "Mark, you should stay behind us in case the guy is still in the area."

"He's not in the area," Mark replied. He stopped. He thought he heard a low moaning sound.

"What is it?" the officer said.

"Shhhhhhhh," Mark said. He listened. There it was again. Mark ran in the direction the sound was coming from. There behind a large number of garbage cans laid Sgt. Ed Brown. He sat up and rubbed the back of his head. "Don't try to move Ed," Mark said.

"I'm all right," Ed grumbled. "I didn't see him. He hit me from behind."

"I don't understand," Mark said bewildered.

"What's to understand," Ed said, looking up at Mark. He clobbered me when I reached the clearing over there." He pointed in the direction he had been hit by the shooter.

"I mean I don't understand why he didn't kill you," Mark explained.

Ed looked at Mark. "You're right. He has been killing cops left and right. He already tried to kill me once. Why did he just clobber me and leave me here?"

"That was my point exactly," Mark said.

"Thanks for checking on me." Ed smiled and again rubbed the back of his head again.

"The chief got worried about you."

"The chief…he's going to blow a cork when he finds out I lost the guy. He's been in a bad mood ever since we got here," Ed said.

"We better get back. You know how he hates waiting. It won't help his mood any."

Mark helped Ed onto his feet. He, They along with the two officers headed back in the direction of the shootings.

7.3

Ironside looked up to see Mark and Ed headed in his direction. As he expected Ed did not have the shooter in custody. "Where in the blazes have you been?"

"I followed him down an alley. Somehow he got behind me." Ed started explaining. He rubbed the back of his head. "He clobbered me and took off."

Ironside perked up. He said mostly to himself. "Why did he let you live?"

"Don't know. Mark and I were wondering the same thing."

Ironside's tone soften. "I am glad he did."

Ed smiled at his boss. "Me too."

"I'm sorry Ed. I never should have sent you after him alone," Ironside said.

Ed was taken back. It was a rare occasion when his boss apologized for anything. "No, I'm sorry Chief. I had him and then lost him."

"Forget it, we'll get him," Ironside said. He turned his attention to the tree. "Ed, get up there and take a look around." He pointed to the tree.

Ed did as Ironside requested. He climbed the tree onto the platform. Looking around he spotted a piece of torn material on a tree branch. He pulled it off and placed it in an evidence bag. He could not see anything else that could help. Ed jumped down to the ground and handed the bag to Ironside. Robert Ironside studied the cloth in the bag. It was tan in color. "Look at it Ed."

"I noticed Chief. It has blood on it. It looks like he must have torn his clothing on a tree branch and in the process broke the skin somewhere on his body."

Ironside handed it back to Brown. "Have the lab check it out." He reached in his pocket and handed Ed a shell. "That likely came from the rife that that shot Carl. Make sure that rife and bullet in Carl are checked for a match." He frowned and looked around. "I don't think there is much left to do here. Let's get back to the office and see if Eve has made any progress."

7.4

There he was right there on his television set…..King Ironside himself. He laughed at the commotion on the screen. Those cops did not have a clue what was going on. They were running in every direction. He laughed again.

He wondered how long it would be before Ironside put it all together. The clues were there but he knew Ironside was looking in the wrong place. He had depended on that. That brilliant mind would be looking for physical evidence to connect and find him. It would not help him, although the rife certainly should be familiar to him. He laughed for the third time. He should have figured out the pattern by the second killing but no he was so busy looking for physical evidence that he had allowed the simple to get by him. That was ok with him. That just meant he could kill more cops before Ironside opened his eyes. When he did he would be kicking himself for not seeing it. He laughed at the thought of Ironside kicking himself. How could he do that? His legs were no good. He laughed hysterically.

Of course Ironside was under a bit of emotional stress right now. He had seen to that. Ironside and his people would think he had been shooting at Ironside when his target was indeed the whore Ironside spent the night with. He had to make it look good so they would think Ironside was the target. They would never figure out the whore was the real target. His second shot was the one to have hit his target but because of her heroics it only took the one shot. She put herself in the line of fire to protect her lover. Isn't that sweet? Too bad he had not killed her but maybe it was better to have Ironside's mind on whether or not she would live or die. Keeping him distracted would keep him from seeing the obvious and that would mean more dead cops.

His only regret on today's activities was Ed Brown. He should have gone ahead and killed him. He fit the pattern. He had missed him the first time. He got a second chance and he let him live. Damn, that was stupid. That would have been a big blow to King Ironside.

He left the television and sat down at the computer. After signing in, he quickly hacked into the San Francisco Police Department personnel file to look for his next victim.

7.5

Mark let go of the chief's wheelchair as soon as they reached the ramp. Ironside wheeled down, slowing his chair as he reached the bottom. He took one look at the stacks of files on four tables and said, "Where in the blazes are we supposed to eat?"

"I can move the files off the table. Chief, the stacks keep growing. You can start looking at them after dinner. There are some I think you should pay particular attention to," Eve said.

"I don't want to look at them. Narrow them down Eve to those worth a second look," He barked. "Mark, how about some coffee?"

"I am putting it on now. Do you want chili for dinner?" Mark asked.

"Do you really have to ask?" Eve said sarcastically.

Ironside lowered his chin and stared at Eve. "Is there something else you prefer Officer Whitfield?"

"With that stack of files it has to be something that is quick. Chili is fine, Mark." She went back to the files. "Where's Ed?"

"He went to check on the ballistic report on the bullet they took from Barbara," Ironside said.

"What about the blood they found on the scene?" Mark asked as he put a cup of coffee in front of the chief.

"He's checking on that too," Ironside said. The chief grabbed a phone and began dialing. "Can I have the waiting room on the Intensive Care floor please?" He sat silent for a minute and then said, "Hi Tracy, it's Uncle Bob. How's your mother doing?….I'm fine sweetheart.…Tracy, is your dad there?….Can I talk to him please?….Vic, is there any change?...None at all?...Have you seen her today?...I left word you could go in…..I'll stop by in the morning. It is getting late….Thanks Vic, I'll call you in the morning. Call me if there is a change." Ironside hung up the phone.

Ed Brown entered the office. "I called and checked on Carl. He is going to be ok. They removed the bullet. He's resting comfortably."

Thank God, thought Ironside. "Mark and I will stop and see him in the morning. Which hospital is he in?"

"San Francisco General, same as Barbara," Ed answered. He looked around. "All of these are suspects?"

"I want it narrowed down. That's what you are working on tonight," Ironside said. "What about the lab?"

"I think I can help narrow that way down. The blood found at the scene in front of Barbara's apartment was type O with an RH negative factor," Ed reported.

"And the blood on the material found in the tree?" Ironside asked.

"The same, chief."

"That will certainly narrow your search, Eve. That blood type is rare. Pull out the files where the suspect has type O with an RH negative factor. We'll take a look at them after dinner."

The door opened and Commissioner Dennis Randall came in. "I just found out Carl was shot. Is he going to be alright?"

Ironside turned his head toward the commissioner. "Yes, he's going to recover."

"Well at least there is some good news. Where are we on this case, Bob? Are you making any progress?"

Ironside had Ed repeat what he had just said to the commissioner.

"What about fingerprints," Randall asked.

"I was just getting to that," Sgt. Brown said. "There were no prints on the rife. None were found in the platform in the tree either."

"And the room in the bookstore?" Ironside asked.

"Nothing, chief." Ed informed his boss. "We are dealing with one killer though."

"How can you be sure?" Randall asked.

"The bullet they took from Barbara matched the rifle we found in the tree. The bullets that were removed from Dawson and Justin were also fired from that rifle."

"That does it then. The mayor is going to go nuts over this," Randall complained.

"There is one other thing Chief." Ed sat down beside his boss.

"Well spit it out Sergeant," Ironside barked.

"The rife is the same make and model as the one used to shoot you on the commissioner's farm," Ed told everyone.

There was silence in the room for a moment. Randall was the first to speak. "Then we may be dealing with someone who has a grudge against you, Bob."

"That narrows it down to every crook in the city of San Francisco," Mark said.

"No. We know the killer has a rare blood type." Ironside said. "That actually narrows it down quite a bit."

"I was told our killer was seen at the crime scene today," Randall said. "Who let him get away?"

Ed was about to say something when Ironside interrupted him. "He got away from us. We had at least fifteen cops looking for him. He managed to slip past us."

"Bob, you have to find this man before he kills again. I was told we have a lot of cops who are getting nervous."

"We'll find him Dennis. It is only a matter of time. Now do you want to stay for dinner?"

"Oh please my stomach is upset as it is without eating your chili." Randall got up. "Any word on Barbara yet?"

"No change Dennis," Ironside said.

"Keep me informed." Randall headed for the door.

"I'd say the commissioner is the one getting nervous," Eve observed.

"He has a reason to be," Ironside said. "Let's eat and get to work."

7.6

Vic Richards sat beside Barbara's bed. He held her hand in his. "Please wake up Lois. Your family needs you. The girls are both here waiting to see you."

Vic got up to head for the door. He turned back and sat back down. "Lois, you must know I still love you. Why can you not see you are much safer with me. Ironside cannot protect you. This is the second time you have ended up in the hospital because of him. He does not need you. He has an entire police force to make him happy. All I have is you. I need you Lois. Please wake up with no memory of Robert Ironside so we can become a family again."

"I promised Ironside I would move on if you still wanted him. I do not want to have to keep that promise. Please Lois, wake up and forget Robert Ironside." He stood up and kissed her lips.

Vic Richards was unaware that Leslie was standing in the doorway watching him.

7.7

With dinner completed they began working on the case. Eve had removed all the files in which the suspect did not have the correct blood type. The stack had been reduced to just ten individuals.

Ed had brought in a chalkboard. Mark poured everyone fresh coffee.

Ironside took a slip of coffee and made a face. "Eve, will you please teach Mark how to make a decent cup of coffee."

"For a man who does not like my coffee, you sure drink a lot of it," Mark pointed out.

Ironside ignored him. He addressed Ed. "You are in charge of the chalkboard. Let's start with the victims. Put them on the board Ed.

Brown began writing on the chalkboard.

1. Damon R. Cook

2. Peter C Gates

3. Timothy Powers

4. Michael Justin

5. James Dawson

Once he had them all written down Ironside continued. "What do all these men have in common?"

"There is the obvious. They are all cops," Mark said.

Ed wrote on the board.

In Common

1. All cops.

"All of them are male," Eve said.

"You would of course notice that Officer Whitfield," Ironside said with a touch of humor in his voice.

Ed added to the list.

In Common

1. All cops

2. All male

"Chief, don't you think you and Ed should be added to that list since an attempt was made on both of you?" Eve asked.

"Ok. Go ahead Ed," Ironside said.

Ed wrote their names on the board

1. Damon R. Cook

2. Peter C. Gates

3. Timothy Powers

4. Michael Justin

5. James Dawson

6. Edward Brown

7. Robert T. Ironside

"What about Carl?" Ironside asked. "Put him on the list Ed."

Ed added Carl to the list.

1. Damon R. Cook

2. Peter C. Gates

3. Timothy Powers

4. Michael Justin

5. James Dawson

6. Edward Brown

7. Robert T. Ironside

8. Carl Reese

The phone rang. Mark was closest to it. He picked up the receiver and said, "Chief Ironside's office." Mark listened for a moment, and then turned to Ironside. "Chief, Leslie is on the phone."

Ironside wheeled to the table, picked up the phone and said, "Leslie this is Uncle Bob."

"Dad said to call you. He is with Mom. Uncle Bob, she woke up!"

7.8

Vic re-entered Barbara's room after having spent time with the girls. He sat down beside her and took her hand. He thought he felt movement under his hand. He looked up at her. Her eyes fluttered and then opened.

"Welcome back, Lois." He squeezed her hand.

Barbara looked at Vic and smiled. "Hello Vic." She then looked around the room.


	8. Chapter 8

Operation: Kill a Cop

Chapter 08

8.1

Ironside slammed the phone back down in the cradle.

"What is it chief, another murder," Eve asked.

"No Eve. Barbara just regained consciousness. Mark! Let's go."

"You are not going without a police escort," Ed protested.

"I am a police escort!" Ironside growled.

"Chief, you are not going without Eve or me so don't argue." Ed stood his ground.

"Chief, what Ed is trying to say in his own sweet way is we want to be there to support you," Eve interrupted.

Ironside looked at his three closest friends. He was lucky to have them and he knew it but he couldn't tell them that. "Well don't just stand there!" He was wheeling up the ramp as his staff ran after him. Mark caught up with him and pushed him up the ramp. He grabbed his jacket on the way out.

8.2

Damn, they changed the password again. Now it was going to take him more time than he wanted to spend on breaking into the police's computer system. The phone rang. He hated interruptions. He grabbed the receiver. "Hello….she's awake. You don't know how happy that makes me. Thank you for letting me know. When will she be able to receive visitors…alright, I will check with Chief Ironside and get permission. Thanks again." He hung up the phone.

He sat back down at the computer. How he hated hacking computers. There was always that chance that he could get caught. Oh well, he would not be in the system that long. Wait….if the whore was awake, Ironside would surely beat it over there to visit her. Chances are those two cops and his aide would go with him. Maybe Ironside's office would be empty.

He went back to the phone and dialed the San Francisco police department. He waited for an answer. "Could you connect me with Chief Ironside's office, please? He waited as the phone in Ironside's office began to ring. Once….twice….three times. The voice mail kicked in. He hung up. So his staff either went with him or he had them out looking for their cop killer. He laughed and then sat straight up in his chair. If no one is in the office, he wondered if Ironside locked the door. The only way he was going to find out was to head over there. He got up, grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. He stopped. Was this really a good idea? Then he laughed. Maybe he could get an idea of where Ironside was on this case. This was probably a bad idea but the thrill of it was just too tempting to resist. He left his apartment and went down to his car for the drive downtown.

When he arrived at police headquarters, he went around to the back. He parked his car on the street. The killer headed into the police garage where he knew Ironside's van was normally parked. It wasn't there as he expected. The garage was quiet and dark. He knew this section was not used by anyone except Ironside, his people, the commissioner and occasionally by police going up to Ironside's office/residence. All other visitors to his office were expected to use the front entrance.

He spotted the elevator and pushed the button. The door opened immediately. The car was there on the garage level. The killer got in and pressed the button for the third floor. When he arrived at the third floor, he got out and turned to his left to Ironside's office. He knocked on the door and waited. No one answered. He turned the doorknob. The door opened with ease.

He entered the office and walked down the ramp. Hopefully Ironside and his people left in such a hurry they forgot to shut the computer down. The killer headed right for the computer on the desk. Sitting down in the chair, he attempted to log into the database for police personnel. Access denied. This could become a wasted trip. He could not spend very much time trying to get into the system from this computer. He could not be sure when Ironside would return. He might stay at the hospital with his whore but his people could come back at any time. Then something dawned on him. He keyed in a password. Yes! He was in. He should have known Jeremy was just too lazy to change his password. He could not believe the department did not make it a requirement to do so by now.

The killer started checking through the personnel files. He had to find one that would really infuriate Ironside. In fact, why didn't he just run a list of the officers that matched his criteria and run it off? Then he would not have to take chances hacking into the system. He ran a search on the name. He grinned. This would save him so much trouble. He pressed print and the list printed to the printer that sat beside the computer. The killer folded the list and put it into his back pocket.

He walked over to the chalkboard. Ironside had been working on the case. He listed the police officers that he had killed. He laughed out loud. Ironside would not figure it out with what was here. He was missing key information. He wondered how long it would be before that brilliant mind of his found the connection. Ironside would be the only one that could figure it out.

The killer knew that sooner or later a confrontation with Ironside was inevitable. He looked forward to it. But for now, it was time to pick his next victim. He pulled the list out of his pocket. Let's see now. He needed someone that was in this building right now. He checked down the list. There was one. He worked in burglary. Yes, he would do nicely. He never could stand the jerk. Now if luck were with him Officer Robert Townsend would be on duty right now. He picked up the phone and called Burglary. "I am calling for Chief Ironside. Is Officer Townsend on duty right now?"….Good. Please ask him to report to Chief Ironside right away…Yes, thank you."

Do these guys ever check on anything? If Ironside wants them, they come running. He says jump and they say how high. He never could understand why everyone was so afraid of him. The big chief. San Francisco's chief of detective. Actually he was a consultant now. He was even more famous now than ever…..constantly running around solving every crime the rest of these bozos couldn't. Randall was still depending on his prize cop. Now police departments around the country were always trying to borrow his services. Why he had not been back that long from Los Angeles where he helped that hot shot attorney clear the district attorney. Randall put him on the cop killer case almost as soon as he got back because he and the city council were all in a panic.

He prided himself. He had already killed five cops and Ironside was not even close to figuring it out. Of course he had been kept distracted because of his little woman had to push Ironside out of the way. But now she was awake. If she was out of danger than Ironside would start devoting more of his time to the case.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Officer Robert Townsend walked down the ramp. He looked around. "Where's the chief?"

"He had to step out for a minute but he told me to tell you to have a seat. In fact, I am surprised you did not run into him in the elevator. He went downstairs."

"What are you doing here anyway?" Townsend asked.

"Visiting the chief," he told him.

"I thought you and the chief didn't get along very well."

"Well, let bygones be bygones, that's my motto. Wouldn't you agree?"

"No, I have no use for you and I am not about to pretend otherwise." Townsend turned to go. "Tell the chief, I'll be back in about twenty minutes."

"Bobby, I can't believe you said that. You are about to regret it."

"And just what in the hell do you think you are going to do about it?" Townsend said as he turned around. When he did, he was looking into a barrel of a gun.

"Scared Bobby boy?"

"What's the meaning of this?"

"Oh I think you know. See, Bobby, you fit my criteria. You know that same criteria that fit Gates and Cook…..Powers…Justin….and Dawson."

Townsend eyes widen. "You killed those cops?"

"That's right Bobby baby….but you are not going to live long enough to tell Ironside because I have plans for him." The killer lifted his silenced gun and shot Officer Robert Townsend right between the eyes. Townsend fell to the floor, his dead eyes staring straight ahead.

The killer sat down at Ironside's desk, took a tablet and pen and wrote.

Chief, in your own words, what in the hell is taking you so long. Number six and counting. By the way how's Reese doing? Did Sgt. Brown get rid of his headache? Has he gotten in the way of any passing cars lately? And what about that whore of yours? Does she remember sleeping with you?

Tell me, what do Gates, Cook, Powers, Justin, Dawson, Townsend, Brown, Reese, and Ironside have in common?

All cops will resign and leave San Francisco or they will continue to DIE. That includes you, Chief.

Till we meet again, Bobby

The killer left the note on the main table in Ironside's office. He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped down everything that he had touched. He walked out around Townsend and left Ironside's office by the same back entrance, he had entered.

8.3

Mark pulled the van to a stop in a handicapped spot in the hospital parking lot. Before he had turned off the engine, Ironside was already in the lift. He hit the button and his wheelchair was lowered to the ground. He was moving toward the door, his staff running to catch up with him.

"He sure can move that thing when he wants to," Ed said.

"Would you take your time if you were in his place, Ed? This is the woman he loves and he doesn't even know if she will recognize him when he gets up there," Eve said.

They reached the elevator. Ironside turned his chair around and backed into the elevator. His team followed him into the elevator. Mark pushed a button and the elevator began to rise.

Ironside was lost in his thoughts. No one on the elevator spoke. They already had a pretty good idea of what was running through his mind.

The elevator stopped and the door opened. Ironside was out the door and headed down the hall. Mark ran to catch up. He grabbed the handles on the wheelchair, not because the chief need pushing but simply out of habit. Ironside reached for the door to the waiting room and backed his chair up to open it for access into the room. Mark pulled the door wide open and held it for his boss. There in the room sat Vic, Leslie and Tracy.

When Tracy saw Ironside enter, she ran over to him, climbed into his lap and shouted, "Uncle Bob, Mommy is awake! She's awake! She's going to be alright!" She hugged Ironside's neck. He returned the hug and kissed the girl's forehead.

"See, what did I tell you?" Inside said in a soft voice.

Leslie walked over to Chief Ironside. She bent down and kissed him. She had tears in her eyes. "She woke up a little while ago."

The doctor walked into the room. "I hear our patience has rejoined us." He walked over to Ironside and shook his hand. "I want to examine her, Chief. Then you can go in to see her. Please wait here until we come for you." He turned and left the room.

Ironside wheeled over to Vic. He offered his hand and Vic Richards shook it. "Her memory?" Ironside asked.

Vic Richards looked down to the big detective in the wheelchair. "She knew me…called me by name but the nurse came in and kicked me out immediately. Sorry, Chief. I don't know what she remembers at this point.

"Have the girls been into see her?"

"No. They insisted I call you. They will not let anyone else in until you have been in to see her."

"But I left instructions….." Ironside began.

"I know you did. They told me but after the nurse examined her, she came back and said no one could see her until you came in," Vic told him.

Ironside looked down. It was clear to Vic, he was worried about what Barbara could remember. He did not know himself. He was encouraged by the fact she immediately remembered him. She had smiled at him. He had not seen her smile at him in that manner in a long time. He was so happy…..so sure it was him she remembered and wanted. He felt sorry for Ironside. He was about to lose Lois again. But if the truth be known….better Ironside than him.

"Thanks Vic. I appreciate the call." He started to wheel away when Vic stopped him.

"Chief, I am hoping against hope she has forgotten you and something inside me tells me she is Lois again. I meant it when I said I did not want to see you hurt but I love Lois and I want you out of the picture."

Ironside nodded. "She hasn't forgotten me, Vic. You are setting yourself up for a fall."

"We'll see," Vic said.

Ironside wheeled away from Richards. He was the last person he wanted to see or talk to right now. He headed for the far corner of the room by himself. He wished he were as confident as he sounded when he said that to Vic Richards. She had remembered Vic. Was that a good sign? Did that mean her memory had not been affected? Or was he about to find out that she did not remember him or what they had come to mean to one another?

He was so lost in his thoughts; he did not hear or see Eve approach him. She put her arms around his neck from behind. "It will be alright, Chief. She is going to be happy to see you."

Ironside took both of her hands in his. It was just like Eve to try to comfort him but right now, all he wanted was to get to Barbara. He said nothing as he knew Eve would understand. He kissed her hand. He did appreciate her. Maybe she had calmed him just a little.

Thirty minutes later Ironside was ready to climb the walls. What in the blazes was taking that doctor so long? Where in the flaming hell was he? Leslie sat down beside Ironside. She took his hand. "She will remember. I know she loves you, Uncle Bob."

Ironside took the girl in his arms. She had grown up so much since he had rescued her from the kidnappers. Ironside wished he could tell her how much she had come to mean to him but right now, he could not find the words.

The waiting room door opened and the doctor walked in. "Chief Ironside, will you come with me please?"

Ironside let go of Leslie and wheeled toward the door. The doctor held it so the wheelchair bound detective could wheel his chair out freely. Ironside moved down the hall for a hundred feet before stopping and turning toward the doctor. "Well? Has her memory been affected?"

The doctor did not answer. "I think you should see Ms. Jones and talk to her."

Ironside's heart sank. Was he telling him that she didn't remember him? Why would he not just answer the question? He wanted to press the doctor to answer but did he really want to know? He decided to keep quiet. He would find out soon enough.

Ironside reached Barbara's room. For a moment, he just sat there outside the door. The doctor waited for Ironside to enter the room. Finally, Ironside reached for the door. The doctor took hold of the door and held it open for the detective. Ironside entered the room.

Barbara was turned away from him. He could hear her steady breathing. She was asleep. He wheeled over to her. He wanted so much to wake her but did not. He sat quietly watching her sleep. She twitched and her head turned toward him. Ironside realized he was holding his breath. He let the air out, trying to calm his nerves.

Slowly Barbara opened her eyes. She squinted and focused them on the man sitting next to her bed. Ironside took her hand in his and kissed her palm. With his other hand, he ran his fingers down her cheek. She smiled, closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

For thirty long agonizing minutes, Ironside sat quietly and just held her hand. The only thing he could do was wait. What did that smile mean? Vic had said she had called him by name. Why had she not done the same with him? Could it mean she did not know him?

A nurse entered the room and filled a glass full of ice chips. "We don't want her to eat or drink anything right now. She can suck on the ice chip when she wakes."

"Thank you," Ironside said. The nurse left the room.

A few minutes later Barbara opened her eyes again. She looked into the tired eyes of the detective. She smiled, squeezed his hand. "Did you know you have the most beautiful, expressive blue eyes I have ever seen?"

"Do I?' Ironside asked.

"Yes." She smiled again. "Stop worrying Bob. I have not forgotten that I love you."

Relief flooded thought Ironside's body. He leaned over her. She touched his cheek and ran her finger down the dimpled line along his jaw. "Besides, you promised me another night like the last one."

"You can have as many as you want," Ironside said softly, his voice choking back the lump in his throat.

"I am going to hold you to that Robert Ironside," she smiled.

"You do that." He leaned into her and his lips met hers.


	9. Chapter 9

9.1

Ironside wheeled into the waiting room. Everyone stood up. Leslie and Tracy walked toward him and he took both of them in his arms. Ironside's face was granite hard. It carried no expression for anyone in the room to read…..except Eve. She smiled inwardly. Everything was going to be all right.

Ironside looked at Vic. "She wants to see you."

Vic Richards grinned. "Thanks Chief." As he walked by Ironside, he placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed just slightly. Ironside felt sorry for him. He watched the man set himself up for a fall and now he was about to experience it. The jester was intended as one of comfort for what Richards believed was Ironside losing Barbara once again.

After Richards left the room Mark, Ed and Eve crowded around him. "How is she Chief?" Ed asked.

"Considering she was shot, lost a lot of blood and just went through major surgery, she is doing remarkably well," the gruff detective answered.

"Chief?" Mark inquired.

Ironside knew what Mark and Ed wanted to know. He also knew that Eve had figured it out. The girls were now staring at him as well. "Her memory has not been affected," he answered.

Leslie was happy for 'Uncle Bob' but sad for her father. She knew how much he has been hoping for her mother to lose her memory of Robert Ironside. She hated to see him endure more pain. She would find a way to comfort and help him to move on with his life. He had to accept that her mother was now with another man. Her mother loved Robert Ironside. She knew that. Her father had to learn to accept that if he was ever to find happiness again.

"Ed, you and Eve grab a cab and go home. We start, first thing in the morning…..early in the morning."

"Are you sure you don't want us to stay, Chief?" Ed asked. Eve rolled her eyes, grabbed him by the forearm and started pulling him toward the door.

"We'll see you in the morning. Good night Chief," Eve said over her shoulder.

"Early in the morning," Ironside repeated.

Leslie stepped in behind Ironside's chair and wheeled him next to the couch. She said down beside him. "My father is going to be devastated."

"I know," Ironside said taking her hand in his.

"I saw him earlier with my mother…..before you got here. He was talking to her and then he kissed her…I mean really kissed her."

"Leslie,…."Ironside began.

"It's not your fault. When she lost all memory of you, I was kind of sad. You saved my life and I thought I would never see you again. Then her memory of you returned and I knew things were going to be different. She changed. I could tell she was thinking about you all the time." She looked down at the very large hand that held hers. "I want you to know, I love you but I love my father too. I have to help him adjust so I want to stay with him as much as possible. Please help my mother understand. It has nothing to do with you or her. It is just that my father needs me right now and you and mother have each other. Do you understand?"

Ironside smiled. "Of course I do but I hope you will come and spend an occasional weekend with us."

Leslie smiled. "You know I will." She hugged him.

9-2

"I cannot help but feel sorry for Vic Richards," Eve said to Ed as they rode in the back of the taxi.

"Feel sorry for him?" Ed said in disbelief. "He has done everything he can to sabotage the chief and Barbara…..and after the chief made arrangements to allow him to see her. The nurse told me he was in her room and kissed her. The chief should have thrown him out."

"He loves her Ed. He is a victim of Barbara's memory loss just the same as the chief was," Eve said.

"But the chief butted out when she lost her memory of him. He did not try to change things. He acted like a man and moved on with his life. Now, she has memory of both of them and she has chosen the chief."

"Did he move on with his life?" Eve said. "Would his love for her have continued to be so strong if he had moved on?"

"He did not try to interfere with Richards when Barbara was with him. Richards should man up and butt out," Ed said.

"Where's your compassion?" Eve asked.

"With the chief…where yours should be!" Ed snapped. Ed regretted it the second he had said it. "I'm sorry, Eve. I didn't mean that. You are always there for the chief."

"Forget Ed. It has been a trying time for all of us. Worrying about the chief and then all these cops being murdered….at least Barbara is out of danger and the chief can put his mind back into this case. We need him."

Brown's cell phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the number. "It's headquarters." Ed slid the bar on the smartphone and spoke into the speaker, "Sgt. Brown."

"Ed, Officer Jordan here. I can't reach the chief." Jordan sounded anxious.

"He is always leaving his phone in the office. He doesn't care for cell phones. What is it?"

"I think you better get back here."

"Why?" What's wrong?" Ed asked.

"There's a dead cop in Ironside's office."

9.3

Vic Richards entered Barbara's room. He sat down by the bed and took her hand in his. "I have been so worried. So have the girls. They are in the waiting room." He smiled at her but she did not smile back. "Lois, what's wrong?"

"Barbara, my name is Barbara," she snapped.

Vic Richards' hopes began to sink. If she knew that name than…

"Vic, we have to talk."

"Then you remember everything?" Vic asked.

"Of course I do," she said more gently. "Vic, you are making things hard for Bob."

"Did he tell you that?"

"Of course not. He would never complain. The doctor told me what has been going on while I was unconscious. Bob is doing his best not to hurt you."

"But he is…hurting me that is," Vic said.

"No Vic, you are hurting yourself. What we had was beautiful…."

"It can be again, if you would only give it a chance," he interrupted.

"No Vic. It is over. I love Bob. I want to be with him. I thought we settled this."

"How can you love a man who continually puts you in danger? You're in this hospital because of him."

"I am in this hospital because some maniac is out there killing cops and almost killed Bob."

"You would be safer with me. He obviously cannot protect you. And then there are the girls to consider. "Lois, I love you. I have always loved you…"

"But I don't love you," she said with a bit more bite to her voice than she had intended.

Vic Richards sat silently. "Then there is no chance for us at all?"

Barbara squeezed his hand. "No Vic. I love Bob and he loves me. I want to build my life around him." She looked him directly in the eye. "You have to accept it and move on. You will never have any peace until you do."

He let go of her hand. "I'll get the girls. They are anxious to see you." He got up to leave but Barbara grabbed his wrist.

"I will always treasure what we had. I am sorry for the pain my memory loss has caused you but Robert Ironside is my life now. Please Vic move on and find someone who can make you happy."

"I already did," he whispered before pulling away from her. He left the room without saying goodbye.

9.4

Sgt. Brown and Officer Whitfield went up the ramp to Chief Ironside's office and opened the door. The office was crawling with police. The forensic team was busy with Townsend's body and a finger print crew was taking fingerprints from various locations in the office.

"What was he doing in the chief's office," Brown asked.

Officer Jordan, who had been leaning over the body, stood up. "Apparently, he got a call from this office. Whoever it was said that Chief Ironside wanted Townsend to report to his office immediately. Townsend never returned to Burglary Division. We kept calling up here but all we got was the voice mail. Then I found out all of you were at the hospital. I came here to find out what was going on. I found Townsend lying right where he is. He was dead when I arrived."

"Call the coroner. Tell him we need an autopsy right away," Ed said.

"I already did and he said he would do it in the morning," Jordan replied.

Ed picked up the phone. "Get me the coroner's office." He waited a few minutes and the crusty voice of the city's coroner came on the line. "This is Sgt. Brown of Chief Ironside's office….."

"Before you start, Sergeant. I have ordered Townsend's body picked up. We'll do the autopsy in the morning."

"Chief Ironside wants the autopsy done immediately." Brown insisted.

"What's the hurry? He isn't going anywhere. Do you think he is going to get off the table and walk away?"

Ed's blood began to boil. This was one of his fellow police officers and this man was being disrespectful. "The hurry is another dead cop. I am only going to say this once. I want an autopsy done TONIGHT or the next phone call you will be receiving will come from Chief Ironside!" Ed snarled.

Fuming but not wanting to deal with Ironside, the coroner growled back at Ed, "Alright Sergeant but I am going to lodge a formal complaint with Ironside's boss."

"That would be Commissioner Randall who assigned this case to Chief Ironside in the first place with orders to solve it as fast as possible. The chief will want a copy of that complaint." Brown slammed the phone back in the cradle.

"You have been working for the chief too long. If I did not know his voice, I could have closed my eyes and sworn that you were him just now," Eve said with a smile.

"He rubs off on you," Ed said, smiling back at her.

Eve noticed the screen on the computer was on. "Was that computer left on?"

He walked over to the desk the computer was sitting on and touched the keyboard. "I don't know. We left here in a hurry. Eve, look. Someone signed into the main system."

"I was in the main system today but I used the chief's password. Check the history."

He checked the history and said, "Someone accessed the department personnel file." Eve looked over his shoulder.

"But how? How is that possible? They would have to have a sign in password. The computer may have been left on but the chief insists we sign out of the system immediately when we are finished using it. He won't allow it to sit open on the computer."

"I don't know but someone definitely accessed it. Look at the time. We were at the hospital at that time." Ed pointed at the time on the computer.

"The chief is not going to like this. The killer may now have the home addresses of every cop in this building," Eve pointed out.

"We better wait here until the chief gets back. Let's get a computer expert up here and see if we can find out exactly what he got off this computer," Ed said.

Eve headed for the kitchen. "I better put some coffee on."

9.5

Leslie and Tracy sat on their mother's bed. "We were so worried," Leslie said.

"I know you were. I so sorry," Barbara told her. She hugged Leslie.

Ironside wheeled into the room. "Girls, we better let your mother get some rest." Tracy and Leslie kissed their mother goodbye and then kissed Ironside on the way out of the room.

Barbara ran her hand down Ironside's cheek. "You look so tired, Bob. Why don't you go home and get some rest."

"I don't want to leave you," Ironside replied.

"I will be fine. You must have rest. The girls told me you sent Ed and Eve home. That means when you leave here, you will go home to peace and quiet. You are so tired you will be asleep as soon as you hit the pillow. Bob, I insist you get some rest. You have been under a lot of strain today." Barbara ran her finger slowly across his lips and down the stubble on his chin. Her hand moved gracefully downward, barely keeping in contact with his body to rest on his broad chest as she rubbed it in a circular motion.

"You are not helping me to rest," he said. "How do you expect me to sleep now?"

She chuckled. "You're dead tired Robert. Now go home!"

"I'm dead tired because you kept me up half the night last night," He said as he kissed her and squeezed her hand. "I'll call you in the morning." He wheeled out of Barbara's room but turned his chair momentarily back toward her to give her a dimpled smile. "It was worth it."

Mark had been waiting for his boss outside of Barbara's room. He straighten as Ironside entered the hall. "Let's go home Mark. Both of us could use a good night's sleep."

Mark dropped his eyes from Ironside. The chief looked at his aide. "What's wrong?"

"Ed called. Another cop has been murdered and Chief, this time it was done in your office."

9.6

Sanger pulled the van to a stop in Ironside's parking spot and shut down the engine. Both he and Ironside sat for a moment. No words were said between them. Both men thinking about what they would find upstairs. Headlights shined as a vehicle pulled in to the police garage and parked beside Ironside's van.

Commissioner Dennis Randall got out of the car. Ironside wheeled into the lift. Mark hit the button that would lower him down to the ground. Commissioner Randall met him as his wheelchair touched the ground. "Bob, I just got the call. I can't believe he just waltzed into headquarters and killed a cop in your office."

"Dennis, let's get upstairs and find out what happened." Ironside had no desire to hash out a murder for which he had no facts or details. He turned from Randall and headed for the elevator that would take them to Ironside's floor.

Mark pressed the button for the third floor and the elevator groaned into action. "How's Barbara?" Randall asked.

"She's awake and out of danger," Ironside answered.

"Thank god for that. At least there is some good news today."

The elevator door opened and Mark pushed Ironside out. A uniformed officer nodded at him and Randall. They returned the nod and headed for Ironside's office door where another officer was standing. He opened the door and Ironside wheeled in and down the ramp.

As soon as Ed and Eve saw their boss enter the room, they both walked quickly over to him. Ironside stopped his chair beside the body. He lifted the sheet that covered the body. "Robert Townsend," Ironside remarked. "What was he doing in this office?"

"It seems he was brought here under false pretenses," Eve said. "Burglary got a call saying you wanted to see him."

"So he walked right into his own murder," Ironside said.

"It looks that way, Chief." Ed handed his boss the note the killer had left on the table.

"What's that?" Commissioner Randall asked. Ironside handed him the note and watched while Randall read it. "I don't think this leaves much doubt that he was killed by the same man as the rest. Some of the information in this note has not been released to the public yet."

"Chief, there is something you should know," Ed said.

The bid detective looked up at Ed. "Are you going to tell me or do I have to guess Sergeant?" Ironside barked. Just then, he noticed a man who seemed to be working on the office computer. "Let me guess, the killer has accessed the personnel files of the officers that work in this building."

"How did you know that?" Eve asked.

"It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes. You got a man working on the computer. Now what would our killer want from the computer? It would be a lot easier to find his victims if he knew where they lived and what department they work in. He can track their movement," Ironside answered. "I assume you have the tech checking exactly what he did access?"

"Yes, Chief," Ed answered.

The computer technician had just completed his work. He approached Ironside. "Chief, whoever went into the system did not hack into it."

"How do you know that?" Ironside asked.

"Because there is absolutely no sign of it. Whoever got into the system did it with a password?"

"Do you know who's password he used?" Ironside asked.

"Yes sir. He got into system using Jeremy Hedison's password."

"Hedison?" Ironside said. "Now we are getting somewhere!"

Ed and Eve looked at one another in confusion. Commissioner Randall was just as confused. "Would you like to explain that Bob," Randall said.

"Up until now he has not given us much to go on but this was his first big mistake."

"Chief, I don't follow you. How is signing into the computer with Hedison's password going to help us," Eve said.

"Eve, how did he get that password?"

Eve shrugged her shoulders.

Ironside shook his head. "Query. If one does not hack into the system, how else does one get into it?"

Ed and Eve said nothing.

"Come on children, think! How could he get into the system if it was not hacked into," Ironside said raising his voice.

"He knew the password," Mark said.

"And if he knew the password, then chances are he knew the person who owned that password," Ironside said.

"Bob, are you saying our killer is another cop?" Randall asked.

"A cop or…" Ironside began.

"An ex-cop," Ed finished.

"Ed, I want an autopsy done on Townsend tonight…..not tomorrow….tonight," Ironside said.

"Already in the works, although the coroner was not happy with you. I told him you insisted it be done tonight."

"I am not here to make people happy. I am here to solve crimes. I will not require autopsies after hours when criminals stop killing after hours," Ironside groused.

"He said he was going to file a complaint with the commissioner," Eve offered.

"I'll take care of that Bob. You worry about finding this maniac." Randall headed for the door. "It is getting late. I suggest you get things cleaned up here and everyone go home and continue in the morning."

The door opened and two men walked in wheeling in a gurney. "Chief Ironside, we are from the coroner's office." They went directly to the body, picked him up and set him on the gurney.

Ironside raised his voice. "I want that autopsy tonight."

"Yes sir. They are waiting for us to bring him back." They rolled the lifeless body of Robert Townsend out of the office.

Ironside turned his attention back to the computer technician. "Were you able to tell which personnel files he accessed?"

"No Chief. He covered his tracks. The only thing I can tell you is he did print off a list to your printer. I don't know who was on it."

"Ok. Thank you for your help," Ironside said in dismissal.

Once the office had been cleaned up and everyone but Ironside's staff was gone, he wheeled over to the main office table. "Ed, I want you to bring Officer Hedison up here in the morning to talk to us."

"Do you think he's the killer," Eve asked.

"No but I do believe he has not changed his password in a longtime. I want to know who else knew that password." He said.

"I take care of it first thing in the morning," Ed said.

"Eve, pick up the bullet as soon as they take it out of Townsend. I think we will find it is from a thirty-eight. I want it compared to every thirty-eight in this building. If we don't get a match than get on that computer and check the files of ex-cops. See if we can come up with a match with a bullet fired from a gun of one of those ex-cops. We are still missing a common denominator in this case. We will get back to that list on the board in the morning. Mark, add Robert Townsend to the list."

Mark got up, went to the chalkboard and added Townsend at the bottom of the list.

"Now you two get out of here. Go home and get some sleep. We start at seven o'clock tomorrow morning," Ironside said and wheeled away from them.

After Ed and Eve had left, Ironside wheeled over to the window that overlooked San Francisco. A moment later a glass of bourbon appeared over his right shoulder. Ironside took the glass and took a sip of bourbon. "Thanks Mark," he said.

"Chief, don't you think you should hit the sack. It has been a very emotionally draining day."

"I will, soon. Right now I need to think. You go ahead, go to bed. I will get myself undressed and into bed. If I need you, I'll call you."

Mark wanted to argue with his boss but knew it would be in vain so he turned and left instead.

Ironside stared out the window. Six cops had been brutally murdered and this killer had no intentions of stopping. But he had made his first mistake. So far, he had been a step ahead of them but tomorrow will change that Ironside thought. Tomorrow is the beginning of the end for this man. Barbara is out of danger and Ironside was free to devote his time finding this killer and find him he would.


	10. Chapter 10

Operation: Kill a Cop

Chapter 10

Mark awoke at five thirty in the morning. He decided to get up and check on the chief. Grabbing is robe, he put it on before leaving his room. He moved quietly through the office. As he past the big window that looked out over San Francisco, he saw the familiar figure of Robert Ironside, sitting in his wheelchair. His head was propped up on his fist as his elbow rested on the arm of his wheelchair.

Mark walked closer to the detective. When he reached him, he could see that Ironside's eyes were closed. He could tell by his steady breathing that he was asleep. San Francisco's famous detective was still dressed in the same clothes in which he had worn the day before. The blood stained suit was a reminder of the near tragedy Robert Ironside had experienced with the woman he loved.

Mark silently backed away from the chief. There was no telling what time Ironside had fallen asleep. The last thing Mark wanted to do was wake him. He tiptoed in the direction he had come. Ironside stirred. "Mark, is that you?"

Mark silently cursed himself for coming into the room. He should have known his boss was an extremely light sleeper. "Yes chief," Mark answered.

"Get me out of these clothes and into the shower," Ironside called out to his aide.

"But chief, it is early yet. Why don't you go back to sleep for an hour? I'll wake you then." Mark suggested to no avail.

"Ed and Eve will be arriving by seven. I want to be ready for them."

Mark knew there was no use arguing with him. When he made up his mind, he was immovable. He followed him in the bathroom where there was a large stainless steel bathtub on one side and a shower on the other.

"I've changed my mine. Fill up the bathtub, will you Mark?"

Mark did as he was asked. He set out a bathrobl and returned to Ironside. After helping him remove his clothes, Mark lifted his boss over the edge of the tub. It amazed him that Ironside actually had managed many times to complete this process himself. Mark was not sure whether it was determination or stubbornness that he used as a vehicle to do it. Once he had Ironside settled in the tub, Mark pulled a towel and washcloth out of the cupboard. He handed the washcloth to Ironside and set the towel on the side of the tub before he retreated to the office to give Ironside privacy, he made sure the chief had shampoo and a new bar of soap. A specially made chair was placed beside the tub so that Ironside only had to maneuver over the side of the tub and into the chair.

Mark headed to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee in anticipation of the chief's next demand. The amount of coffee that was consumed in this office was short of amazing. Maxwell House didn't realize they owed part of their success to Robert T. Ironside and his staff.

Mark began cooking oatmeal. It was always as challenge to prepare what the chief wanted for breakfast. No matter what he chose to make him, he always seemed to want something else. Mark was sure it was Ironside's way of keeping him on his toes.

At a quarter to seven, Eve and Ed walked through the door. "Where's the chief?" Eve asked.

"Getting dressed," Mark said. "He fell asleep in the tub. I left him there for a bit. He did not go to bed last night."

"I was afraid of that," Ed said. How much sleep did he get?"

Mark shrugged. "I found him sitting up, sleeping in his chair in front of the window. I don't know how long he had been sleeping there like that."

A few minutes later, Ironside wheeled into the room. Mark set his breakfast in front of him. "Is there enough of that for Ed & Eve," he asked Mark.

The two detectives looked at one another. "You usually complain when we want to eat breakfast here," Eve said.

"Sit down while I am still feeling charitable," Ironside said with gruffness to his voice.

Eve smiled and took a seat beside the chief. Ed sat on his other side. Mark set a bowl of oatmeal in front of both of them. A carton of milk was already on the table. Ironside poured milk over his oatmeal and sprinkled sugar across the top of it.

"Mark, I thought you were going to switch the chief to skim milk. It has less calories in it."

"And it taste like water," Ironside grumbled. "If I wanted water on my oatmeal, I'd put water on my oatmeal."

Ed grinned. Eve was always trying to get the chief to watch his waistline. She kept track of his weight and promptly reminded him when he gained a pound or two.

"What is so amusing Sergeant?" Ironside growled.

The grin disappeared from Ed's face. "Nothing chief." Mark watched on with amusement. The boss would probably be in a sour mood all day from lack of sleep.

Breakfast was eaten in silence as everyone tip toed around Ironside's mood. "Mark, how about some more coffee?"

Mark look up at the chief who was holding his coffee cup up. The coffee pot was not more than a couple inches away. He looked from the chief's cup to the pot several times. Ed and Eve were watching and began snickering.

"Well, are you going to pour me a flaming cup of coffee or not?"

"Chief, the coffee pot is right beside you," Mark protested.

Ironside stared at his aide with those steely blue eyes. Mark stared right back at him.

Both Ed and Eve were trying hard not to laugh. Both knowing Mark was going to lose.

"You do want to get paid tomorrow, don't you?" Ironside threaten.

"Chief, the coffee pot is right there in front of you," Mark complained.

"And my coffee cup is right beside you," Ironside countered, still holding his cup out toward Mark.

Mark hated to give in but he knew the chief certainly would not. He shook his head and poured him another cup of coffee. "Someone got up off the wrong side off the bed," Mark mumbled.

"Well it must have been you since I did not go to bed last night," Ironside grumbled back at him.

"That certainly explains the mood," Mark said.

Ed and Eve were grinning from ear to ear. When Ironside noticed he growled, "What are you two grinning at?" That immediately wiped the grins off their faces.

"Chief, have you called Barbara this morning?" Eve asked, trying to change the subject.

"It is too early. I will call her in a hour or so." He answered. "In the mean time do you people think we can get get some work done?"

"We are just waiting for you," Eve said.

"Mark, get this table cleared off."

Mark got up and began clearing away the morning dishes. Ed walked over to the chalk board and pulled it closer to the table. Eve filled the coffee cups again.

Ironside studied the board. "Alright, let's see if we can find the common denominator," he said.

"What about rank?" asked Eve.

All of them looked at each name.

1. Damon R. Cook

2. Peter C. Gates

3. Timothy Powers

4. Michael Justin

5. James Dawson

6. Edward Brown

7. Robert T. Ironside

8. Carl Reese

9. RobertTownsend

Ironside shook his head. "That worked for the first five. They are all officers. But then you have a sergeant, a chief, a lieutenant and then we have another officer."

"That list is not in the order they were murdered," Mark said. Could he be moving up in rank?"

"No. Ed was attacked after Powers and then he went back to an officer," Eve said.

"Ed, put that list in the order they were killed or attacked," Ironside ordered.

Ed erased a couple names and changed their positions.

1. Damon R. Cook

2. Peter C. Gates

3. Timothy Powers

4. Ed Brown

5. Robert T. Ironside

6. Michael Justin

7. James Dawson

8. Carl Reese

9. RobertTownsend

"Officer, Officer, Officer, Sergeant, Chief, Officer, Officer, Lieutenant, Officer. The is no pattern there," Eva said.

"No pattern," Ed agreed.

"There has to be. We just are not seeing it yet," Ironside said.

"He is not doing it alphabetically," Mark observed.

"What is there in common among these people?" Ironside asked

"Only what we mentioned before. They are all men and all cops," Eve remarked.

"That is not it." Ironside frowned. "There has to be something to tie all of these officers together."

"Well the only thing I see in common among them is two of them have the same first name," Eve said.

Ironside looked again. A pattern was beginning to form in his mind.

1. Damon R. Cook

2. Peter C. Gates

3. Timothy Powers

4. Ed Brown

5. RobertT. Ironside

6. Michael Justin

7. James Dawson

8. Carl Reese

9. RobertTownsend

"Maybe not Eve. Damon Cook's middle initial is R. Ed, check the computer and find out what Cook's middle name was."

Ed walked over to the computer and booted it up.

Ironside watched with impatience. "What is taking so long?"

"Be patient, chief. Ed cannot make it come up any faster," Mark said.

"I could call down stairs and get the information faster," Ironside complained. "Computers," he said disgustedly.

After a moment, the computer was ready. Ed signed into the personnel files. Ed keyed in Damon Cook's name. He waited a moment and then the screen came back. Brown just stared at the screen.

"Well," Ironside said gruffly.

"His middle name was Robert," Ed said quietly.

"Ed, what is your middle name," Ironside asked.

Brown looked at his boss. A pin could have been dropped in the room and it would have sounded like a nuclear explosion. Ironside, Mark and Eve looked directly at Brown. "My middle name is Robert," Ed answered.

Eve stood up, "What about the rest of the people on the list?"

"Carl's middle name is Robert as well," Mark said excitedly.

"Are you sure?" Eve asked.

"Yes, he helped me with one of my assignments. I had to have his full name in the report I wrote," Mark answered.

"Ed, look up the rest of the men on that list," Ironside ordered.

Ed began keying in the rest of the cops one by one. When he finished, he said. "With the exception of you, Bob Towsend and Pete Gates, everyone else's middle name was Robert."

"He must be trying to send you some kind of a message, chief." Mark said as he walked back from the kitchen with a fresh pot of coffee.

"Ed, find out how many more officers we have with Robert in their name….first, middle or last name. Roberts, Robertson…..don't leave anyone out."

Ed went back to keying information in the computer. He waited and the screen returned with a list of names. Ed hit the print button and the names popped out of the printer on a sheet of paper. He took the list over to Chief Ironside.

There were seven men on the list. 1. Officer Andy Roberts, 2. Det. Sgt. Robert Erickson, 3. Lt. Jonathan Robert Egan, 4. Officer Robert Rogers, 5. Captain Raymond Robertson, 6. Officer Curtis Robert Eble, 7. Officer Nicholas Robert Smith.

"Eve get a copy of this list to Captain Jimmy Smith. I want every one of these cops in this office within the hour," Ironside said.

"Are we sure this isn't a chance he picked them at random," Mark asked.

Ed looked at Mark. "You're kidding, right?"

"No, there was one man on that list that no part of his name was Robert," Mark replied.

"You mean Pete Gates?" Eve asked.

"That's right, his middle name began with a C."

"Pete Gates was not the killer's target," Ironside interrupted his staff's discussion. "Damon Cook was the target. Pete was just unfortunate to be in the car with him at the time of the assault."

"Are we sure about that?" Mark said.

"We're sure," Ironside said ending the discussion. "Now get those cops in here."

10.2

Roberta Sanchez left Victoria Secrets with two shopping bags. She had worked seven days in a row. She had not been on the force long. Still she could not believe how nervous many of the cops had become. With one cop in the hospital, another attacked and several dead, it had taken toll on some on the forces. Absenteeism was at an all-time high. She had already worked more than one double shift and had been called in on her day off. She still could not believe the phone did not ring this morning. She had gotten a good night's sleep and was well rested, even after working a rather busy double shift. She swore all the crazies in San Francisco came out from under the rocks at the same time.

She had a date tonight. He was a cop too. David had asked her out more than once but she had turned him down. Roberta was not sure it was a good idea to date another cop. David had been relentless in his pursuit of her. He had finally worn her down, so when he asked her yesterday, she accepted. She was going to the beauty parlor and then get her nails down. She really did like David. She was looking forward to an enjoyable evening.

Unfortunately, for Roberta, her date with David kept her police instincts on the back burner. She was unaware she was being followed.

10.3

"Chief, every man on that list has been contacted. All of them are on duty this morning. They will be here in about 15 minutes," Eve announced.

"Thanks, Eve," Ironside replied.

Ed Brown re-entered the office. He had received a call that the ballistic report on the Townsend murder. "Chief, you were right the bullet was shot from a thirty eight. It is being compared to bullets from the shooting range. So far it doesn't match any of the cops we have checked."

"And I don't think it will. I think we are dealing with an ex-cop. One that has a beef with me for some reason, so he's killing cops."

"Yes, all male cops. At least the women cops can rest easy," Eve said.

Ironside whipped his head around. "What did you say?"

Fearing she had said something to upset her boss, but not knowing what, Eve repeated, "I said they are all male cops. The woman can rest easy."

"Why is the flaming hell did we not think of that!" Ironside roared.

Eve stepped back. "Think of what chief?"

"Ed, get back on that computer. Find out if we have any female cops named Roberta," Ironside ordered.

Eve gasped. "Chief, we do. Roberta Sanchez."

"Get on the phone, find her, NOW!" Ironside shouted.

Ed, Eve and Mark all headed for phones.

10.3

He followed Roberta Sanchez to her home. Ironside had probably figured out that everyone had Robert as part of each name. He laughed. But Ironside would never think to check the woman. He would have no reason to. That fact would cause this pretty police officer her life.

He reached in the glove compartment and pulled out his thirty-eight, the same thirty-eight he used on the force. He loaded the gun and got out of the car. Glancing both ways down the street, he checked to make sure no one was watching him. When he was sure no one was, he hurried to catch up with Roberta Sanchez. He grabbed her around the waist and put the barrel of the gun to Sanchez's temple. "Inside, lady. I know you're a cop. So if you make one wrong move you're dead. Now move."

10.4

"Where the flaming hell is she?" Ironside bellowed.

"We are doing everything we can to locate her. She had today off after working seven straight days. There is no answer at her home. We sent a patrol car to her apartment. We have not heard back yet," Ed told Ironside.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing. Eve, Mark, you come with me. Ed you talk to the boys that are coming up. Let's go!"

Mark grabbed his jacket while Eve grabbed her coat and purse. They ran to keep up with Ironside who had already reached, opened and exited the door of his office.

Sitting in the van behind the driver's seat Ironside reached for the police radio. "This is Ironside. I want every available unit at the apartment of Roberta Sanchez," he said reciting the address. "Can't this thing go any faster?"

"Of course chief. But I should at least touch the wheels to the pavement every now and then," Mark said.

"Well make it 'then'. Step on it Mark."

A few minutes later, the van pulled up in front of Roberta Sanchez's apartment building. A uniformed sergeant headed in Ironside's direction as soon as he saw the van pull in. Ironside turned to Eve. "Get an ambulance here."

Sgt. Dick Morrison approached Ironside. "No one has gone in or out of her apartment, chief. It's your call. What do you want us to do?"

"Kick it in and get in there. I have reason to believe Officer Sanchez is in great danger. Eve, go with him."

The sergeant and Eve left the chief on the run toward the apartment building. Ironside stayed behind with Mark. This was the hardest part of his job. He hated standing back waiting for his officers to take care of a situation. Before a sniper's bullet cut his legs out from underneath him, he would have been the one to kick that door in. Instead he had to sit here and wait.

Ironside could hear the roar of an ambulance in the distance. Within a few minutes, an emergency team pulled up beside his van. Ironside stopped them as they started for the apartment.

Eve came out of the apartment building. "Chief, she's been shot, but she's alive."

"Get in there," Ironside said to the medical emergency team.

Two police officers approached Chief Ironside. "If you want to go in Chief, we'll get you up those stairs." Ironside accepted their offer and wheeled toward the apartment building. Both officers were young and strong and had no trouble lifting the chief's wheelchair up the stairs of the apartment building.

Ironside wheeled down the hall. When he arrived at the door where two uniformed police officers were standing, he stopped. They stepped aside so that Ironside could wheel into the room. He looked around the room. Paramedics were working on Roberta Sanchez. The detective wheeled over to her.

Roberta recognized Chief Ironside. She reached out to him. He took her hand. When she tried to talk Ironside stopped her. "Don't try to talk. We're going to get you to the hospital."

"But…..chief….man who…..shot….me….was an…..ex….cop. His name…...is…." Roberta lost consciousness.

"Get her to the hospital," Ironside ordered. The paramedics wheeled Roberta Sanchez out of the apartment.

"Dust for prints," Ironside said. "You won't find any but do it anyway."

"Chief, the paramedics said she would make it. I sent two officer's to the hospital. They will stay with her. We will need to arrange for replacements around the clock.," Eve said.

"Take care of it Eve." Ironside wheeled out into the hall. That is it, mister. You just made another mistake. You left the victim alive. It won't be long now, Ironside thought as he struggled to control his rage.


	11. Chapter 11

Operation Kill a Cop

Chapter 11

11.1

Ed Brown completed his meeting with the officers just as the door opened and Mark Sanger wheeled Chief Ironside into the office. The chief wheeled down the ramp, slowing his speed as he traveled downward.

The officers immediately began shouting questions at him Ironside's patience and temper were short. "One question at a time!" He barked at his officers.

Captain Raymond Robertson put up his hand to silence the concerned police officers. "Chief, if you and your officers have not been able to protect the other officers, what makes you think you can protect us?"

Ironside's face did not show the anger that immediately started bubbling upward at the Captain's question.

"My staff has been working on this case around the clock. If you think you can do better than we have, you are welcome to join this investigation," he growled.

Captain Robertson's face turned red with embarrassment. "Chief, I'm sorry. I did not mean to imply that you and your people are not doing your jobs. What is it you expect all of us to do?"

"Stay alert and watch each other's backs. I am sure Ed briefed you on the fact that we believe the killer is an ex-cop. In other words gentleman, all of you must be more observant than usual. Pay close attention to any ex-cop who may approach you or even one you spot on the street."

"Chief, since the killer is going after those of us who have Robert as part of our name, could the killer have a grudge against you? Could he be killing cops to punish you? If it is indeed an ex-cop, he would know how protective you are of all the men in the department," Captain Robertson said.

"We are going on the possibility that the chief may be the killer's actual target," Sgt. Brown interrupted, "because of the attacks and murders of those whose names contain Robert."

"Since our lives are on the line here, can we would like to help you find this guy….that is if you want our help."

Ironside did not hesitate for a minute. "Absolutely. Ed is in the process of matching the bullets taken from his victims to bullets we have on file from the firing range. If any were kept when this man was required to qualify, we will know shortly who he is. In the meantime, whatever you boys can think of to check, do it. Be sure you coordinate with Ed so we are not covering the same bases."

"We'll get right on it chief," Robertson said. The officers filed out of Ironside's office.

"Mark, put on a pot of coffee, will you please?" Mark headed into the kitchen. Ironside looked over at Ed. "What are you still doing here? Get over to the firing range," he said.

Ed headed out of the office. "Eve, we still have not talked to Officer Hedison."

"We were pretty busy this morning. Would you like me to locate him right now?" Ironside just stared at her without answering. Eve nodded. "You would." She got up and went to the nearest phone.

The door opened and Vic Richards walked in. Ironside turned to see who had just entered his office. As Richards walked down the ramp, Ironside said, "Eve, go downstairs and locate Hedison. Mark will help you."

Both Eve and Mark knew the chief wanted privacy. They left the office together. "Vic, come in." Ironside pointed to a chair across from him at the table. Richards sat down. He could not meet Ironside's piercing eyes. Ironside said nothing. He waited for Richards to get his emotions under control.

Vic Richards lifted his eyes and looked directly at him. "I went into see Lois." He hesitated and then said, "Barbara." Ironside continued to remain quiet. "Her memory has not been affected by what happened as I am sure you know."

"Yes Vic, I am aware. I also saw and spoke with Barbara."

"She made it very clear to me that what we once had is over." His voice broke….he stopped. Ironside again remained quiet to give him time to recover. When he had done so Vic said, "She told me she loves you and that I had to accept that you are her life now." Richards looked away. Tears appeared in his eyes. "I have loved her all my life, chief. I don't know how NOT to love her."

"You have to give it time, Vic. A love that deep will not die quickly. I have always believed love is like a flower. If it is not nurtured, it will eventually die. Sometimes it takes a long time but it will happen. You must go on with your life. If it makes you feel any better, I will do everything I can to keep her safe and make her happy."

"I know you will. I came here to tell you that I will keep my word. I am flying home later today. Leslie is coming with me. Tracy would like to stay with her mother and of course you. If that is ok with you, I have told her she may do so."

"It's fine with me and I am sure it is fine with Barbara as well. Tracy can stay here with me until Barbara is back on her feet."

Richards looked away from the detective. Ironside could sense what was on his mind. "I am not trying to replace you in the girls' lives."

"I feel like I am losing them too."

"You're not. Leslie told me she wanted to stay with you. She is worried about you. They both love you very much. I can't thank you enough for helping them to adjust to this situation. Barbara has told me you did everything you could to make them understand the divorce and help them to accept me where Barbara is concerned. That could not have been easy."

"I thought then that I had accepted our divorce. My concern was with my girls. I did not feel it would be good for them to be bitter with you. Then Barbara was shot and I realized I had not accepted the divorce. I actually hoped Barbara would lose her memory. How could I say I love her and have wished for that?"

"Vic, you have to give it time."

"..and distance," Vic said. "I can't see her again. I would like you to tell her that. I cannot talk to her either. Please make her understand. Where the girls are concern, I would prefer she relays everything through you. As much as I have tried to hate you since she left me for you, I cannot. I know you have been caught in the middle of this mess just as much as I have been. Please chief, I will never ask you for anything again if you just make her understand."

Ironside watched Vic Richards and felt sorry for the pain he knew he was going through. He had no desire to hurt him. Ironside knew Vic brought this upon himself by coming here with the idea of convincing Barbara to return with him…hoping for more memory loss. He would not however, speak his feelings out loud. This man had suffered enough. "She already understands but I promise you, I will talk to her."

"Tracy is at the hospital with her mother. Leslie is outside the door. She would like to say goodbye to you."

"By all means, show her in," Ironside said.

Vic Richards went to the door to Ironside's office. He opened it and Leslie came into his office. Leslie squeezed her father's hand and then walked over to Ironside. "I am going back with my father. Will you keep me up to day on Mother's condition?"

"Of course I will," Ironside answered. Leslie put her arms around Ironside's neck and said, "Take care of her for me, chief." She kissed his cheek and looked into his blue eyes. "I will be back to visit." She hugged him one more time and returned to her father.

"Goodbye, chief," Vic Richards said.

"Goodbye, Vic," Ironside replied. He watched as the two of them walked up the ramp. Just before they disappear through the door, Leslie turned and smiled at Ironside and mouthed 'I love you'. Ironside duplicated her action with his own.

The phone rang. He picked it up and said, "Ironside."

"Chief Ironside. This is Doctor Shepherd. There has been a set back with Barbara Jones. We need you at the hospital immediately. There are some medical decisions you may have to make. Please come right away."

"What has happened?" He asked but the caller did not hear his question as he had hung up. Ironside dialed the phone and then hung up. He could call the hospital from the van. Calling from here was wasted time.

Ironside grabbed a tablet and wrote a note for his staff. He wheeled out of the office and rode the elevator down to the garage. He pushed the button on the door. The door opened and the lift lowered to the ground. Ironside backed in the lift and pushed the button. He pushed the button that moved the driver's set back and out of the way. Ironside got behind the wheel of the van and then locked the wheels of his wheelchair.

The passenger door opened and a man with a gun got in. He pointed the gun at Ironside. "Start the van, chief. Don't try anything. I would hate to have to kill you before I am ready."

11.2

Ed Brown walked into the office at the firing range. "Hey Davy, any luck on those bullets?"

"Hi Ed. No, not yet. I got started a little late. You would not believe the amount of bullets that they have stored here. It is ridiculous. What the hell are they keeping all of these bullets for?"

"They are supposed to keep those that are shot every time we qualify which we have to do once a year," Ed told him.

"Why?"

"I guess they want them on file from the gun that we are currently using. I don't know. Why does the department do half the things they do?"

"Does the chief really believe that it is an ex-cop doing the killing?"

"That is what is looking like right now. We do know he knew his way around the computer system and his shooting is as good as any cop on the force. Anyway, we will know as soon as you finish the comparison. How long do you think it will take?"

"Oh, I don't know….maybe today or tomorrow….maybe not for a week or a month. It is hard to say. It just depends on how lucky we get."

"The chief is not going to be very patient on this one Davy." Ed said.

"Is the chief ever very patient when he wants something?"

Ed chuckled. "No, he's not. So let's see if we can find it quickly and keep him happy."

11.3

"Mark, have you had any luck?" Eve asked.

"No. No one seems to know where Jeremy Hedison is."

"This is ridiculous. I cannot believe this." Eve walked over to the dispatch desk and picked up the receiver of the phone. She dialed the chief's office and waited for him to answer. The phone continued to ring with no response.

Mark noticed the look on Eve's face. "What's the matter?"

"The chief is not answering," Eve said.

"Maybe he's in the bathroom. He would not even try to get to the phone. Give him a few minutes and call back."

Eve nodded but she had an uneasy feeling. Mark's explanation was perfectly acceptable but Vic Richards was there. He wouldn't just go to the bathroom with someone in the office. He never did that. His disability had made the chief a very private individual. He did not even do that when she and Ed were in the office. No, she could not accept it. "Mark, you keep trying to find Hedison. I'm going to go check on the chief."

Mark shook his head. "You better have something figured out to tell him. He is going to want to know why you are back in the office without Hedison."

Eve heard Mark but did not pay much attention. She headed for the elevator. She got in and pressed the third floor button. When she arrived, she turned to the left and went up the ramp to the office door. Opening the door, she called out, "Chief!" She did not get an answer from the boss.

Eve walked through the office. "Chief!" She called out again. Still no answer. She noticed a tablet on the table and picked it up.

_Complications with Barbara. Heading to the hospital. Will call when I know more._

Eve stared at the note. But Barbara was doing just fine. What possible complication could have happened? The phone rang. Eve reached for it and answered, "Chief Ironside's office."

"So what did you tell the chief," Mark said.

"He's not here, Mark."

"Not there? Where could he have gone?"

"He left a note. It says there are complications with Barbara. He went to the hospital."

"Hospital? Eve, that doesn't make sense. I just talked to Barbara. She called. I took the phone call down here when the chief did not answer. She sounded great. She wants the chief to call her."

Eve did not like this. "Mark, get up here. I'll call Ed." She hung up and then dialed Barbara's room at the hospital. When Barbara answered the phone, Eve said, "Barbara, is the chief there?"

"No Eve. I just called. Mark said he would have Bob call me. Why? What's wrong."

"When I got back here, I found a note. It said there was complications with you and that he was going to the hospital"

"What? Eve, I am fine. There is no reason for the anyone here at the hospital to call and make such a claim. Eve, I'm worried. Where is Bob?"

"I don't know but there is probably a logical explanation. So don't worry. I'll check it out and call you back. Just don't worry." Eve said goodbye and hung up.

Mark entered the office. "Did you call Ed?"

Eve picked up the phone and called the police firing range. "I need to talk to Sgt. Brown." Ed came on the line and Eve explained why she was calling.

"I don't like it. I would rather get reamed out by the chief if we are wrong then just ignore this. Eve, put an APB out on the chief's van. Tell them not to stop the van. I want it followed until we know the chief is not in any trouble. I am on my way back to the office." Brown hung up.

11.4

Ed entered the office. "Any word from the chief?"

"No." Eve and Mark looked to Ed for their next move.

"What about Jeremy Hedison?"

"We have not been able to locate him either," Eve answered.

Ed grabbed the phone. "Captain Smith, please." He waited a minute and Captain Jimmy Smith was on the phone.

"What does the chief need now?" Smith said cheerfully.

"Jimmy, the chief may be missing." Brown told Smith what had been going on.

"I'll send a couple men over to Jeremy Hinson's. Did you put out an APB on the chief's van?" Smith asked.

"Eve took care of it."

"I have a couple choppers put in the air to see if they can spot him. He has not been gone that long. Keep me inform Ed. I'll let you know what the boys find at Hinson apartment. Call me if you come up with anything."

11.5

"Just keep driving, chief."

"Where are we going?" Ironside asked.

"I have a car over by the Golden Gate Bridge. We have to ditch this van of yours. It is too easily spotted. You have a pretty sharp staff chief. I suspect it won't be long before they discover you are missing. With the van gone from the police garage, the first thing they will do is put out an APB on it. I also figure Brown will get Jimmy Smith to send up a chopper or two."

"Why?" Ironside asked.

"It took you long enough to ask chief," he said.

"You served your time. Got time off for good behavior. Why in blazes kill those cop?"

"Those were for you chief. I actually had several more planned but you figured out the link between them. Otherwise you would not have found Sanchez. Another hour or two and she would have been dead. But no, Chief Robert T. Ironside had to ride in on his white horse and save the day. It would not have been that much longer and you would have found me. So I decided to find you."

"Barbara…"

"She's fine. I had to figure a way to get you out headquarters. I was sure using her would work. It did.

"I still don't understand. Why did you kill those cops," Ironside asked, insisting on an answer.

"You ruined everything. I would have had enough money to be comfortable for the rest of my life. I did not want a lot, just enough so that I did not have to scrape by from paycheck to paycheck. You took it all away from me, Ironside. You destroyed my life. All I ever knew was working at headquarters. Now I can't even do that."

"You helped a group of men black out part of the city of San Francisco for the purpose of stealing what amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars from the federal reserve. You knocked out Sgt. Spangler and tried to use the micro film unit as a diversion. What the hell did you expect me to do?"

"You caught the guys who set it all up. You did not need to go after me."

"You were a civil service employee, Kinney. You crossed the line. You gave me no choice."

"Oh that's right, Robert Ironside never makes an exception does he?" Kinney

"You broke the law. That makes you no better than the criminals we put behind bars. In fact, you are worse. You were entrusted with police records. You had access to practically everything at police headquarters."

"I would not have had to do it if the SFPD paid a decent wage. I could not make it on that salary. I couldn't meet the bills. But you could not look the other way just this once. So…."

"So you decide you have to go out and kill five cops just because they happened to carry part of my name. Your beef was with me. Why didn't you just kill me? Why did you kill six cops who had nothing to do with it?"

"The only way to hurt you Ironside is through your cops. That's why. But don't fret. You are going to die. There up ahead. The blue Ford. Pull up beside it."

Ironside did as he was told. Kinney opened the van door while holding his gun on Ironside. "Now you just wheel that chair over near the car. Don't try anything or you will die sooner than planned."

When Kinney turned his head, Ironside grabbed his cell phone off the dash, silenced it and put it in his suit pocket. He got into the lift and pushed the button.

Ironside had no choice but to do as he was told until Ed and Eve could figure out where he was, hopefully before it was too late. In the meantime, he would have to find a way to keep Kinney from making good on his threat.


	12. Chapter 12

**Operation Kill A Cop**

**Chapter 12**

12.1

Ironside sat in silence while Kinney drove the blue Ford away from the Golden Gate bridge. What had made the man flip out this way? What made the disturbed mind snap to the point of murder? Kinney had served his time. He was a free man. Of course he would have had to start completely over and decide what he would do for a living. Why would he take this route when he reached that fork in the road?

Ironside put him away for a couple years for his part in the robbery but now he would be facing several counts of murder, attempted murder and kidnapping. The chief knew he would have to be careful how he handled him. Kinney had absolutely nothing to lose. He had already killed several cops. One more cop would mean little to him. And Ironside had no intentions of joining the other dead cops. No, it was his duty to bring Kinney in and see to it that justice took its course.

"Mr. Kinney, tell me Pete Gates' middle name was not Robert so why did you kill him?" Ironside asked, knowing the answer. He needed to keep Kinney distracted long enough for Ed and Eve to figure out where he was.

"Oh come on Chief. Please do not insult my intelligence. I know you know the answer to that question. My target was not Gates. He just happened to be with with Dillon Cook. I could not take out one without taking out the other."

The blue Ford pulled off the road in the country. Kinney look around. There was not a human being in sight. He pulled the Ford around and parked it between two bushes. They almost completely concealed the vehicle. "Stay put chief. Remember, I will not hesitate to kill you if you try anything at all." Kinney got out of the vehicle. He went around to the back and opened the trunk. He reached in and picked up a crow bar. After slamming the truck closed, he walked around the front to check on Ironside. Satisfied that Ironside was behaving himself, he proceeded to a series of bushes.

Kinney had discovered a door to tunnels that ran under San Francisco. Few knew of them. Ironside knew about them because Dennis Randall, whose tongue had been loosened by several drinks when out drinking with his number one detective, had told him all about them. There were several entrances. If his memory served him correctly this entrance had been concealed by brush. For the safety of the public and secrecy from those who might use them for criminal reasons, Randall had ordered the door welded shut.

Kinney put the crow bar into the bushed on the side of the door and pried the door open. He walked back to the van. "Did you know there were tunnels that ran under San Francisco?"

"No," Ironside lied. He did not want Kinney to know that he had studied the plans after he learned about them. The less Kinney knew about what he knew the better.

"Well what do you know? The great Robert Ironside doesn't know everything. Well, let me be the first to give you the grand tour."

Ironside looked at the opening. "How do you expect me to get in there? There must be some kind of ladder leading down there. My legs are no good. I can't climb down there," Ironside said.

"Well you are going to. I will help you in the door and then you will have to depend on the strength in your upper body to go down the ladder."

"What about my chair?" Ironside snarled.

"Forget the chair, Ironside. If you don't have the chair, you are not mobile. You will be much easier for me to handle."

Ironside did not like this. He did not like the idea of not having his wheelchair. It would make it more difficult to deal with Kinney. "Why don't you drop the chair down?"

Kinney laughed. "You would like that, wouldn't you chief? Not going to happen. Without that chair you are helpless and that is the way I want you. Now I am only going to say this once. If you give me any trouble getting you down into the tunnels, I will simply kill you and tell your staff where to locate the body. Do we understand each other?"

"We do," Ironside answered with a cold stare.

"Good. Now turn your back to the door so I can drag you out of the car."

Ironside did as he was told. He knew it was imperative he keep his wits. It could be the difference between life and death. Kinney grabbed Ironside behind both arms and pulled him out of the car. Stopping momentarily to adjust his grip on the big man, he dragged him over to the opening of the tunnel. Setting him down, he shinned a flashlight down into the tunnel. "Ok, here's the deal. There is a ladder directly under this opening. You can rest your feet on each rung as you lower yourself down into the tunnel. Again, Ironside, don't try anything or I'll kill you."

Kinney pulled Ironside close to the entrance and then lifted him. "Alright grab hold of the top of the entrance. I'll slide your legs into the opening and then you turn around. Lower yourself rung by rung."

Ironside grabbed the top of the entrance and Kinney lifted his legs so that they were dangling inside. Ironside then turned his body and began lowering himself down the ladder. Mustering all the strength he could, Ironside move first his right hand to a lower rung and then left hand. His progress was slow. He had gone down about fifty steps when he stopped.

"Move it Ironside. There are about thirty more steps."

"I think my foot is hooked around the rung," Ironside called out.

"What the hell do you mean you think," Kinney yelled at him.

"I think because I can't feel them!" Ironside growled with sarcasm.

"Unhook it or you are going to find yourself at the bottom much more quickly."

Ironside encircled his right arm around the rung and reached down with his left hand. He took hold of his pant leg across his thigh, lifted up on it and pushed outward. He tried to continue downward but he realized he was still tangled around the ladder. He reached up, wrapped his left arm around the rung, reached down with his right hand and repeated the attempt to free his right leg. This time he was successful.

Ironside again continued moved downward. Because of his disability, he had developed extraordinary strength in his upper torso but still he was beginning to tire under the weight of his own body. Ironside had made his way further down but by his count he was still twenty five steps from the floor. He latched on to the next rung. Crack! The rung gave way and Ironside fell several rungs before he was able to grabbed another one. Crack! That rung gave way and Ironside fell to the floor of the tunnel. His vision blurred. The last think he saw was Kinney working his way down the ladder before he passed out.

12.2

The phone rang. Ed and Mark grabbed for the phone at the same time. Ed beat him by a second or two. He barked into the phone. "Chief Ironside's office, Sgt Brown."

"Ed, this is Captain Smith. We have located Jeremy Hedison. He had a hunch and was following it. He just came in. He is on his way up now." Ed hung up the phone and relayed the conversation to his friends.

Within a few minutes the door opened and Jeremy Hedison came down the ramp. "Sgt. Brown. I think I know who the cop killer is."

"Sit down, Jeremy," Ed said.

Hedison sat down in a chair at the main table in Ironside's office. "When I found out the killer had used the same make rife to shoot Lt. Reese as the one that paralyzed the chief, I remembered someone who was compelled to buy that particular model because it had been so accurate when used against the chief on Randall's farm. "Now that alone was not enough to point a finger so I kept quiet until I could bring the chief more. Then I heard downstairs that someone had accessed the personnel files on the department computer system by way of my password. I have been lax over the years in changing my password. But only one person in all the years I have been a cop had access to my password."

"Who?" Brown asked.

"Kinney. He did not have high enough clearance to access some files. That was right about the time of the blackout. I was given permission to let him use mine. I was supposed to change that password afterwards but I didn't. Sergeant, if Kinney remembered that password then he could have been the one to access the system."

"Which would place him in this office at the time of Robert Townsend's murder," Eve pointed out.

"Eve, get on the phone and find out if Kinney has been released from prison yet. He was supposed to serve two years, if I remember correctly." Eve went over the chief's desk and started dialing.

"Jeremy, can you verify your whereabouts when the system was breached?"

"Yes sir. I can. I was on duty. Lt. George will verify I was here in the building working with him on a case and never left the office."

"Mark, check his alibi," Ed said. "Please understand I am not accusing you Jeremey….."

"I know sergeant, you have to check. Go ahead. I have nothing to hide."

Within a few minutes Mark came back to the table. "He checks out."

Eve hung up the phone and said, "Kinney was released over a month ago. He was supposed to report to his parole officer but he failed to show up. They have a warrant out for his arrest for violating parole but have not been able to locate him."

"Put an APB out on him, Eve."

"Already have," she replied.

"Any word on the van yet?" Ed asked.

"Not yet." Eve turned to look at Brown. "Ed, we have got to find the chief."

"We will," he assured her.

"Kinney worked in records, didn't he?" Ed asked.

"Yes, sir. He did until the chief arrested him for being in on the attempted robbery and blackout.

"Jeremy, get down to records and find out if he took an interest in anything in particular. Check to see what records he made hard copies of. I have a hunch he is the one that lured the chief out of this office. If he did, he has the chief and we had better find him and fast. Get moving."

"On it, sergeant," he said as he headed out of the office.

"Ed, I pulled Kinney's records from personnel. Nothing much in here other than his arrest records. I dispatched a patrol car to his last known address," Eve said.

"Eve, you come with me. Mark stay here. Call us if the van is spotted. I want Hedison put through to me immediately, if he comes up with anything. Eve, let's go."

"Where are we going?" Eve asked.

"To Kinney's last known address."

12.3

Ironside groaned as he regained consciousness. He looked around. He was in a room that was completely furnished with furniture. Lanterns dimly lit the room. He was lying on the floor. Ironside shook his head, trying to clear the fog. He tried to focus but his vision was blurred. It was then he realized that it was blood that was blurring his vision. He wiped the blood out of his eye with the sleeve of his suit coat.

Ironside crawled over to a couch. Using his arms, he pulled himself up on the couch. He untwisted his legs and surveyed his surroundings. Kinney either was living down here or recently furnished it for holding up here until he could get out of San Francisco. On the table beside him laid a finger nail file. Ironside picked it up and put it in his suit coat pocket.

The blood was running into his eye once again. With his hand, he reached up and felt above his eye. There was a gash about a half-inch long. Above it, he could feel a rather large bump on his forehead. He must have hit his head in the fall from the ladder. He looked down at his feet. His right ankle looked to be bigger than the other was. Ironside reached down and ran his hand up and down his lower leg to his ankle. He pulled the sock back. He could not see the anklebone. It was swollen to more than double its size. Ironside was sure if he had feeling in his legs, that ankle would be extremely painful. He never thought he would say this but his disability did have it advantages on occasion.

The door opened and Kinney walked in. "You took quite a bump on the head chief. I was afraid you would off yourself before I get a chance to."

"Sorry I didn't oblige you," Ironside snarled.

Kinney chuckled. "No you're not. You are going to fight me every step of the way. Chief Robert T. Ironside will not go down without a fight."

"Give yourself up, Kinney. You will not get away with this," Ironside said.

"May I point out to you that I have already gotten away with this? No one is going to find you down here chief. No one knows about these tunnels except for Dennis Randall and a select few. Most of them were city council members who are now dead. So don't depend on your staff to save the day this time, Ironside. They will not even be looking down here for you."

"What do you want from me?" Ironside asked.

"To kill you," he answered.

"No you want something more than that or you would have already tried to kill me."

"You forget chief. I already tried to kill you outside you whore's apartment building." Kinney watched to see if calling Barbara a whore had any visible affect on him. It did not. Ironside's expression was hard as nails. He didn't even flinch. But then he would have been disappointed if he had. Ironside was very disciplined.

"I thought at first you were trying to kill me but when we put two and two together and saw that you were killing officers whose names contained Robert, I knew your real target was Barbara."

"How can you be so sure?"

"You said yourself that killing those officers were for my benefit. What good would it have done to kill me before them? You would have lost your prime audience."

"Very good chief. You are right of course. I not surprised. You have always been brilliant when it comes to deduction."

"Why Barbara?"

"Because I need to keep you busy while I took care of those officers. You are entirely too good to allow that computerized mind of yours the time to think. Being occupied with your whore, kept you from working on the case. Actually I was surprised that you left her as soon as you did. I figured I had at least a couple days."

"You still have not told me what you want?"

"Oh, I want you to suffer. See, I plan on killing a couple more cops before I do you in. I had to get you out of the way first. You were getting too close. I could tell that when you rushed in to save Officer Sanchez."

"First, I am going to go to the hospital tonight and finish the job on Lt. Reese and then I will take out your Sgt. Brown. After that I will come back and kill you."

"You will never get out of this town. I have it bottled up."

"Now that I was sure of. But you did not know about these tunnels. I figure your perimeter includes the city only. You see, we are very close to the outskirts of the city. After I take care of Brown and Reese…..and you of course, I will simply come back here and leave the city by way of this tunnel. Then I will head for Mexico. I can't make a life here so I will start fresh down there. Your office will be shut down without you to lead it and when the trail runs cold the police department will give up looking for me. Not a bad plan, don't you think?"

The plans of this tunnel were running through Ironside's mind. He tried to remember if they ran out of the city. He didn't think they did but he could not be sure. If Kinney had planned this entire killing spree around the fact that one of the tunnels led out of the city then he had to accept that it did.

"Will you look at that? I never thought I would see the day when Robert T. Ironside was speechless. Well, I must be going now. You behave yourself chief. Of course you will be confined to this room while I am gone and I was careful to be sure there is nothing here that will help you. There is some water on the table. I would not want you to die of dehydration. There is no food but we all could stand to lose a few pounds, don't you think? I'll see you in a bit." With that Kinney left the room.

Ironside heard the door lock from the other side. He rolled off the couch and pulled himself with his arms over to the door. Grabbing the knob, he tried turning it. He knew it was locked but he had to try anyway. Ironside pulled the finger nail file out of his pocket and put the end of it into the lock. After ten minutes of trying to jimmy the lock, he gave up. It was apparent he would not be opening that lock with the file.

He rolled over and looked the room over. As promised Kinney, had left a pitcher of water on the table with an empty glass. He dragged his body over to the table. Putting both arms on the seat of the chair, he pulled and tugged until he was seated in the chair. Ironside poured a glass of water and drank the entire contents without stopping. He again filled the glass and drank it. After he had his fill of water, he examined the pitcher. It was made of plastic as was the glass. Kinney had been sure he had not left glass for Ironside to use as a weapon.

He took the glass and slammed it against the table. It broke in half. Still it was nothing he could use as a weapon. He again looked around the room. Placing half of the glass in his side pocket of his suit coat, he slid off the chair to the floor. Again using his arms to pull along the floor, Ironside traveled over to the lantern sitting on a small table across the room. He reached up and took the lantern. Grabbing hold of the side of the lantern, he lifted it into the air with his right hand; his left hand holding down the half glass. He brought it crashing down on the half glass on the right hand side. It shattered the section which he hit. He turned it upside it over so that the undamaged side was now on the right. Again he lifted the lantern and smashed the half glass. After he had the basic shape he wanted, he continued hitting the plastic glass. This time he used less force. Time after time, he brought the lantern down on the plastic until he was satisfied with his finish product. Robert Ironside has successfully crafted a knife out of the plastic glass which he placed in his side pocket of his suit coat.

What was it Kinney sarcastically had said? He did not want Ironside dying of dehydration before he came back. Unknowingly he had left Ironside a weapon that might just keep him from dying at Kinney's hand. When he looked up, he noticed a storage cupboard. He crawled over to the cupboard and opened it….more plastic glasses. He pulled one out, crawled over to the table, pulled himself up far enough to replace the broken glass. Taking the other half of the broken glass, he put it into his other suit coat pocket and lowered back to the floor. He crawled back to the cupboard and placed the rest of the broken glass behind the other glasses.

Ironside pulled himself into a sitting position and looked around the room. He noticed another cupboard in the opposite corner of where the glasses were kept. Although exhaustion was beginning to set in, he crawled over to the cupboard. Inside the cupboard was a dart board. He threw that aside. He could not see anything of use. Then he hesitated. The shelf went way back. Ironside pulled forward and reached in to see what was behind the dart board and the other useless junk that laid in the way. He pushed everything to one side and smiled. Mr. Kinney had missed a dart. The detective stretched to retrieve the dart, which he placed in his coat pocket.

He cocked his head as it appeared there was something back even further in the cupboard. He backed his shoulder to the cupboard and stretched as far as he could. Once he got his fingers on it, he pulled out a roll of white string held in place by an elastic band. Ironside slid it across the floor to the door. He started to back away from the cupboard when he thought better of it. Two pieces of old wood had been pushed to the side when he moved the junk over. Ironside grabbed the wood and slid those toward the door as well.

Now he would have to make do with the tools he had to work with. Kinney was right about one thing. He would not go down without a fight.


	13. Chapter 13

Operation Kill a Cop

Chapter 13

13.1

Ed pulled his dark blue Ford to the curb in front of the apartment building. He and Eve got out of the car and headed up the steps. In front of the door a police officer nodded at both of them as they pass through. They were met at the apartment door by a young police officer. "What have we got?" Ed asked.

"Nothing here that I can see sergeant," the officer told him.

Ed and Eve entered the apartment. Ed looked around. It was clear Kinney did not not make neatness a priority. The apartment had beer bottles everywhere. Clothes were lying on the floor. "Check the bedroom," Ed told Eve. He went into the kitchen. Opening the drawers, he looked inside of each one. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Ed looked in the refridgerator. It was loaded with beer and nothing else. A quick glance into the wastebasket revealed Kinney ate a lot of fast food. An inspection of the cupboards revealed nothing. Ed left the kitchen and walked back in the living room.

"Ed!"

Ed turned his head when he heard Eve call from the bedroom. He left the livingroom and walked down the hall. Ed looked into the first bedroom he came upon and moved on to the next one when he found the room empty. He entered the second room. He found Eve standing in front of the closet. Ed bent down and picked up a sheet of paper. It was a computer printout of all of the officers in the San Francisco police department whose name contained some form of Robert.

"The is not much doubt Kinney is the one killing our cops," Ed said.

Eve looked at Ed, the worry evident in her eyes. "I am worried about the chief. If Kinney has him, he's in serious danger."

Ed took hold of Eve's hand and squeezed slightly. "Sometimes we almost treat the chief as if he is a kid that needs looking after. We perceive that wheelchair of his as a weakness. Sometimes we forget that the chief uses it to his advantage. How many times have criminals underestimated him because of that chair? When they have, that is when they are out smarted by him."

"I know, but this is not someone who will underestimate him. I'm really worried about him."

"We will find him," he reassured her. "He knows he just has to keep Kinney busy until we find him. Now come on, let's keep looking for anything that will help us locate where Kinney is holding him."

After an extensive search, Ed and Eve and Eve did not turn up anything new. They returned to Ed's Ford. He started it up and pulled away from the curb.

The car radio sounded. Ed picked it up and said, "Sgt. Brown."

"Ed, it's Mark. They just found the Chief's van."

13.2

Kinney entered the hall to Carl Reese's room. Outside the room, a uniformed officer sat in a chair reading a magazine. Kinney was not expecting a guard. He should have forced Ironside to tell him if he had assigned one to the lieutenant. He just did not think of it. Now he had to think of a way to get that officer away from the lieutenant's room.

He walked down the hall. He located a telephone and called the desk. When the duty nurse answered the phone, Kinney said "This is Sergeant Davidson. Please have the officer on duty outside Lieutenant Reese's room report to the lobby. Chief Ironsides is waiting to speak with him."

The duty nurse walked down the hall and relayed the messsage to the officer. He thanked the nurse. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled our his cell phone and dialed Ironside's office. "Can I speak to Sgt. Brown, please."

"I am sorry but he is not in the office right now but you might be able to reach him on his car phone," Mark told him.

The officer called Brown's car.

"Sergeant Brown."

"Sergeant Brown, this is Officer Duffy. The duty nurse just told me to go to the lobby to meet with Chief Ironside. Since I heard an APB was put out on the chief's van, this sounded fishy. I thought I would check with the chief's office before following an order I am not sure was given."

"Duffy, the chief is missing. This is more than likely an attempt on Lieutenant Reese's life. Do not leave his room, not even for a minute. I will have more men sent over."

Officer Duffy returned the cellphone to his pocket. The magazine had lost his interest. He no longer had any desire to sit down. His eyes darted up and down the hall, looking for any sign of trouble. He would feel better when the help that Brown promised arrived.

13.3

Robert Ironside dragged himself over to the lantern. Reaching up, he grabbed a hold of the lantern and pulled it off the table He crawled over to his make shift weapons. After setting the lantern down, he picked up the string. He pulled the elastic off of the roll of string and placed it into his suit coat pocket. The detective unraveled as much of the string as he thought would be needed, pull the string apart with both hands until it gave way. He picked up the two pieces of wood, placing one over the other to form a "T". He then took the string wrapping it around both of the pieces of wood binding them together as one.

Ironside pulled the elastic band out of his pocket, wrapped it around the ends of the cross part of wood and stretched it so that the tension was fairly tight. He made sure it was securely fastened. Dragging it with him he crawled away from the door. He pulled the dart out of his pocket, placed it on his home made bow against the elastic band and pulled the elastic back. Ironside aimed for a dark spot on the door and released the elastic band. The dart shot across the room and embedded itself in the detective's target. He crawled back to the door and pulled the dart out. He placed the dart back in his pocket, satisfied it would operate as he intended.

It was now time he make things more difficult for Kinney when he returned.

13.4

Tracy sat on the side of her mother's bed. She could tell her mother was very upset but did not know why. She took her mother's hand in hers. "Are you worried about Daddy?" She asked.

Barbara smiled at her little girl. "No honey. Your father is going to be just fine." She did not see any reason to worry the child. Nor could she tell her that her father was the furthest thing from her mind. She saw no reason to frighten her daughter with the disappearance of Bob Ironside. She was worried enough for both of them.

Barbara knew how much Bob loved what he did. His record alone was positive proof he was extremely good at it. She also knew trying to get him to retire would be futile. Truth be told, she could never ask it of him. She would have to resign herself to worrying about him. She simply had no choice, she loved him.

She picked up the phone and dialed Bob's office.

"Chief Ironsides office," Mark answered.

"Mark, has there been any word on Bob?" she asked.

"No, I am sorry Barbara. We have located the van. He was not with it. Ed and Eve are checking it out now. I will call you as soon as I hear anything."

"Thanks Mark. I will check back with you later."

He could hear the disappointment and worry in her voice. "The chief will be fine. You know how resourceful he can be. Try not to worry."

She thanked him again in hung up the phone. All she could do was wait... and worry.

13.5

Ironside pulled himself into a sitting position beside the door. He shined the lantern on the lock. It did not appear to be a dead bolt lock. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He removed the first credit card he came upon and placed it between the door and the door frame where the lock was. He pushed the card down on the lock. Ironside continued

working the credit card against the lock until he was finally able to force the lock open. Ironside held the card in place, pushed his shoulder against the door and it swung open.

The detective crawled back toward the table. Grabbing the table leg, he pulled the table toward him and the door. He backed up and pulled again. Ironside continued the process until he had the table where he wanted it. After he took the other lantern, he crawled back to the door. Pulling himself through the door, Ironside inspected both sides of the doorframe. He was able to spot nails on both sides of the door. He wrapped string around the nail on the one side and stretched it to the nail on the other side of the door. He pulled the string tight and wrapped it around the nail. Ironside then tested the strength of the string. He hoped it was strong enough. He shut the door after placing his home made cross in his back pocket. Stopping momentarily, Ironside could feel the exhaustion that had set in but he had no choice but to continue to set up for his defense.

He began crawling down the tunnel toward the ladder. When he arrived at where the ladder had been, he felt along the wall. Where was that ladder? He had been sure it was right in this area. Holding the lantern up, he searched along the wall. There above his head, he could see the ladder. Somehow, Kinney had taken out a few steps. Not enough to keep Kinney from getting out but enough that he could not reach them, not being able to stand. Still he had to try. Ironside pulled into a sitting position. He reached upward, trying to touch what was now the bottom stair. Even stretching as far as he could did not bring him close to the first step. He had a hunch Kinney would make sure he could not get out the same way they came in, if he was able to escape from the room.

Ironside reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. After flipping it open, he looked at the signal bar…..there was no signal. He did not figure the phone would work this far under the city. Well, there was no chance of getting out this way. He decided to head down the tunnel. Maybe he could locate another entrance.

As he crawled down the tunnel, Ironside tried to recreate his conversation with Randall the night he had told him about these tunnels. If his memory served him correctly, there were four of them. He only wished he and Dennis had not drank so much. His memory of the conversation was not coming back to him beyond being told about the tunnels.

He was not sure how far he had crawled. He stopped his forward progress and rolled over to the wall. Feeling along the wall for anything that he could attach the string to, Ironside wedged the string around a pipe that was sticking out of the floor. He crawled to the wall on the opposite side. Fortunately on that side, the same type of pipe was sticking out of the floor. He wrapped the string around pipe after stretching it tight. Once he had secured the string, he once again started crawling down the tunnel. He had to find a place to make a stand against Kinney.

13.6

Ed slammed on the breaks and his Ford came to a screeching halt beside Chief Ironside's van. He pushed the door open and ran straight to the van. He opened the driver's door and jumped in.

He could not find anything out of the ordinary. Eve opened the door. "I knew it was to much to ask that we would find him here."

"I was not expecting to find him. Kinney would know enough to change vehicles. This one is easily spotted. I was hoping the chief left a clue. If he did, I don't see it."

Eve looked around the van. Ed was right. There was nothing here that would help them...or was there? "Ed, the chief's cell phone is usually on the dash. It is not there."

Brown looked at the dash. Eve was right. The cell phone was missing. He reached for the car phone. "This is Sgt. Brown. I want the GPS on the Chief Ironside's cell phone checked. Trace its location and call me back on my cell phone."

Ed and Eve waited. The minutes seemed hours. "Let's go over this van again. The chief always leaves something to help us. We must have missed it." After an extensive search of the van, Ed and Eve still came up with nothing. As far as they could see the chief had not left anything that could help them. Maybe he had been unconscious for the ride here or he was watched to closely for him to do anything.

Eve sat down in the passenger seat. "I don't like it, Ed. The chief always leaves us something. Do you suppose it is so subtle that even we are not picking up on it?"

Ed did not have a chance to answer. His cell phone rang. He pressed answer and said, "Sgt. Brown."

"Ed, it's Mark. They just called. The chief's cell phone is not registering a GPS signal."

"No signal? Is the phone on?"

"They think so," Mark answered. "It could be that he is out of range of the tower."

"That would mean that Kinney took him out of the city. I don't believe that. He wants to grandstand in front of the San Francisco Police Department. No, Mark, the chief is in the city."

"Maybe Kinney discovered he had the phone and took it away from him. He could have shut it off. Maybe they are wrong about it being on."

"No, police cell phones are equipped so that the GPS can be tracked even if the phone is off. He has to be somewhere the signal cannot be picked up," Ed said. "Mark, we are headed in. Check on Hedison's progress. Finding the chief may come down to what Kinney was doing before he left Headquarters."

"He left no clues in the van?" Mark asked.

"Nothing that Eve and I can find," Ed answered. "When we get back, you go over the van. You may see something we missed. You spend more time with the chief than we do."

13.7

Kinney watched as more police officers entered the hospital. Duffy did not come down to the lobby and now more police were showing up? That could only mean one thing. Duffy sensed something was wrong and called Ironside's office. Maybe he already knew Ironside was missing. It was obvious he was not going to be able to get to Reese. He was to well protected. He would be lucky to get out of here without being caught.

Kinney slipped into maintenance room. He looked around. On a hook was white overalls with a white hat. He took them off the hook and put them on. He open the door and pushed cleaning cart out. He lowered the hat down over his eyes. Looking straight ahead, he pushed the cart down the hall. As he tried to push pass Reese's room, he was stopped by a nurse. "We need clean up in this room."

Kinney lowered his eyes and pushed the cleaning cart into Reese's room. He kept his back to Reece and began cleaning up spilled water and juice. Two police officers were talking to Reese, bringing him up to date on the chief's disappearance. Fortunately, they were blocking Reese's view.

Kinney finished cleaning up the mess. Keeping his head down, he pushed the cart back out of the room. He headed down the hall toward the elevator. Kinney pushed the button. When the elevator opened, he entered with the cart. Once inside, he pushed the button for the ground floor. However, the elevator stopped on the second floor. Two more police officers entered the elevator. Kinney remained at the back of the elevator with his cap pulled low over his eyes.

Both officers were discussing the disappearance of Robert Ironside. When the door opened on the ground floor,

Kinney pushed the cart out. He spotted another maintenance closet. He entered the closet and removed the overalls and cap. Kinney then walked out of the hospital.

13.8

Ironside stopped his progress down the tunnel. He had run out of string but then Kinney would be wise to it after twice. One of the lanterns went out. Ironside threw it aside. It was of no longer any use to him. He could not remember how far apart the entrances into the tunnel were. Even if he was able to reach one and pull himself up the ladder, how would he ever free the door to the tunnel. It would be sealed as the other one was. He would have to hold his own body on the ladder with his sheer upper body strength and his strength was waning. When he decide he had rested enough. Ironside continue down the tunnel. So far he had not found anywhere he could stop and wait for Kinney. He needed more protection than the open tunnel would provide. He had no choice but to continue.

13.9

Ed and Eve arrived back at the office. They walked down the ramp and were met by an anxious Commissioner Randall. "Well Sergeant, any word on your boss, yet?" He asked.

Ed shook his head in frustration. "Nothing in the van that we could find that would give us a clue of his whereabouts."

"Nothing?" Randall complained. "He always leaves something. There must have been something. It could have been something only one of you would recognize."

"I only wish he had, commissioner," Eve said. "But there was nothing. It is possible he was watched to closely."

"I can't believe it. Bob knows if we are to help him, he must help lead us to him," Randall argued.

"There might be one thing," Ed said. "His cell phone was missing from the dash of the van. He always leaves it there."

"Did you trace the GPS?"

"Yes, commissioner but they said it had no signal," Mark said.

"No signal? That doesn't make sense. Police cell phones are designed so that we can track them even when off. The signal is still actually there even when off. The only way we could not find him is if he is out of signal range," Randall said.

"Commissioner, Ed doesn't believe that Kinney would take the chief out of the city," Eve said.

"Ed's right. He wants all eyes of the San Francisco Police Department on what he is doing. If he is going to kill Chief Ironside, he would do it right here in San Francisco," Randall insisted.

"Then why can't we trace his cell phone?" Ed asked.

"Because he is somewhere where the signal is blocked," Randall said.

"Then that narrows down where in the city he is being held," Mark said.

"Alright, I buy into this, commissioner. Where would a signal be blocked in this city?" Ed said.

"What about a building made entirely of cement?" Eve asked.

"Alright Eve, you start there. Find out every building in this city that is made entirely of cement," Ed said.

"Ed, what about the sewers?" Mark asked. "There would not be any signal down there would there?"

"No. Commissioner, can we assign some police to start searching the sewers."

Randall did not respond. It was obvious from the look on his face, something they had said had rang a bell. "Commissioner?" Eve asked.

"There is something that you people are not aware of," Randall said.

"Commissioner, if you know something that could help us find the chief, then tell us," Ed said.

"There are tunnels that run under this city. It is a little known fact. They have been sealed off for a long time. They would be on micro film. It is possible that Kinney knows about them since he worked in records," Randall said. "There is no way Bob would get a signal down there."

"Mark, get down stairs and have Hedison find the micro film for those tunnels. Have him run off plenty of hard copies to hand out to the police officers." Mark headed out of the office on the run.

13.10

Kinney could not believe he got past all those cops. Obviously, Ironside's brilliance did not run through the entire police department. He had been away from Ironside for a long time. He had to get back to the tunnels. He would have like to kill both Reese and Brown but maybe he didn't have to. He could convince Ironside that he had done so. That would be enough. He would die thinking he could not save his precious golden boys.

Kinney jumped into the car and sped down the street. Time to die, Ironside.

13.11

Ironside crawled along the wall. With his make shift bow in his back pocket and his home-made knife in his suit coat pocket, they were all that stood between him and death. He knew he was running out of time. Kinney would be back any minute and find him missing. He would be furious….at least Ironside hoped he would. If he was, he would make mistakes. A man who kept his wits had a better chance of not making fatal mistakes.

As he continued down the wall, he wondered if his friend…..Commissioner Randall would remember these tunnels. By now Ed, Eve and Mark would be concentrating on those sections of the city that would block his cell phone signal. Hopefully the commissioner had checked on their progress and they were able to figure out where he was. However, he simply could not depend on them to come in and save him. He had to depend on himself. He stopped for a moment, drew in a breath and continued crawling alongside the wall. His forward progress was stopped, by what he was not sure. He held up the lantern and saw a low cement wall about three feet high. He did not know what its original purpose was and did not care. He only cared that it was there.

Ironside crawled behind the wall and rested. He pulled the home made bow out of his pocket. He reached in his other suit pocket and retrieved the dart. He would make his stand here. At least it afforded him some protection.

Ironside turned out the lantern and waited…..for Kinney to find him.


	14. Chapter 14

Operation Kill a Cop

Chapter 14

Kinney arrived back at the opening to the tunnels. He put his flashlight in his back pocket. He then tucked his gun behind his belt at his waistline. Kinney got out of the car and walked over to the opening. Pressing his fingers behind the greenery concealing the door, he forced the door open.

Kinney pulled flashlight out of his pocket. After switching it on, he climbed down the ladder. When he reached the section of the ladder he had removed, Kinney stopped and jumped to the tunnel floor. Using the small stream of light the flashlight provided, he continued on to the room he had locked Ironside in.

Kinney reached into his jeans pocket and removed the key. He shined the flashlight on the key hole. Placing the key in the lock, he turned it and released the deadbolt. The door opened to a completely dark room. His flashlight was dying. It did not provide enough light to see into the room

"Ironside! This is not going to help you. You are going to die. So why don't you take it like a man?" He stood still and listened. Silence. He did not like it. "Turn on the damn lantern, Ironside!" He shouted.

The light on his flashlight went completely out. "Damn it!" Kinney looked into the room but it was pitch black. "You are only making it harder on yourself." He still received no answer from the Ironside. "Damn cop," he mumbled.

Kinney walked forward into the room. As soon as his feet came in contact with the string, he tumbled forward and fell into the table that Ironside positioned perfectly. He lost his balance and tripped over the chair. Kinney went crashing to the floor, hitting his head on the table on the way down. He blacked out.

14.2

Ironside could hear the echo of Kinney's voice yelling at him. He readied his make shift bow, holding the dart against the elastic. In the distant he could hear a crash. The string he set across the door had held. Ironside had no doubt he had tripped over it and fell into the table. He listened for further movement. There was none. That could only mean Kinney had be knocked out cold in the fall. He wondered how much time he had. Maybe he should try to explore the area a bit. He would no doubt hear Kinney when he regained consciousness. He would be angry and would probably be yelling at him from the distance.

Anger, unless controlled could be anyone's downfall in any dangerous situation. Years of being a cop had taught Ironside to control any anger he felt. It would give him the advantage. He certainly had plenty to be angry about. He had lost more than a half a dozen good cops…good people to Kinney's twisted value system. Carl Reese was still in the hospital, although he would recover. Ed could have been killed if he had not spotted that car at the last minute. But what angered him the most was the attack upon Barbara. He had waited so long for her to come back into his life and because of Kinney, he had almost lost her for good. And her only crime was her love for him. This was one man he would take pleasure in arresting. He would be in that courtroom when his sentence came down. Ironside would not lose a wink of sleep over the death penalty when Kinney received it….and he would. He wanted justice for his cops who lost their lives in the line of duty, for the families who would have to go on without the young men they loved; all because they happened to share Ironside's name in part; all because they were cops like himself. They died because Kinney had a grudge against him. Ironside WAS angry…..extremely angry but he would control it and turn that anger into an advantage. Kinney did not understand that an angry Ironside was an extremely dangerous man, in or out of a wheelchair.

The most important thing now was to keep his wits and defend himself. He knew he was at a disadvantage physically but it was no different than any other situation of this sort he had found himself in, in the past. He had come out of those safely because he kept his wits about him. Today would be no different. What was his police force called him? The Ironman on Wheels. Kinney was about to find out why.

He would wait for Kinney. He was a patient man…..at least for now he was.

14.3

Sgt. Ed Brown and Officer Eve Whitfield were going over the plans of the tunnels provided to them. "There are eight entrances into the tunnels, commissioner. I thought you said there were four."

Commissioner Randall pulled the blue prints from Ed and Eve and started going over them. "I only remember four," he said, "but this clearly shows eight. These are not the plans that I remember seeing. There are many more tunnels than I can remember. How are we ever going to find him in time?"

Ed grabbed the blue prints from the commissioner. "We will find him in time because we have to," he said. "Okay, so there are more than you remember. Kinney must be planning to use the tunnels to get out of the city after he kills the chief. We have the city bottled up. Every exit in and out of the city is covered by cops. Commissioner, do you remember if any of these entrances are outside the city limits. Could Kinney get by our policeman by using one of them?"

Randall walked over and stood next to Ed. "My knowledge is base on four entrances. If memory serves me correctly only one of those was outside the city limits. I don't see how that would do him any good though. The main highway is just the other side of it and we have that covered. No, I just can't believe he could slip by us using that entrance."

"Which entrance are you talking about?" Mark asked.

Ed pushed the blue print in front of Randall. "Point it out."

Randall ran his fingers along the blue print. He stopped momentarily and shook his head and continued. He moved along the outside of perimeter of the tunnels and stopped at one area that marked one of the entrances. "Here, this is the one I am talking about."

"And you say the highway runs along here?" Ed said as he used his finger to indicate the highway."

"Yes, I believe that to be correct."

"Ed, there is no way Kinney could get out that way," Eve said. "We have barricades along here if that is the highway." She pointed them out. He could not even cross the field. He would be spotted."

"Maybe not," Mark disagreed. "If he left at night, he could travel along here," he said pointing.

Ed considered what Mark said. "Isn't there a cement wall along here?" he asked, again pointing it out on the blue print.

"Yes, but he would be spotted," Randall argued.

"Nooooo, I don't think so. Not if he left at night like Mark said," Ed said.

Eve felt like they were wasting precious time. They had to find the correct entrance and time was running out. "Is there anyone that knows these tunnels, commissioner? Are they used for anything at all?"

"There are a handful of people who know about them but I really don't know who would know them any better than I do. These tunnels were sealed more than twenty years ago," Randall answered. "Anyone that had anything to do with them is no longer working for the city."

"Before they were sealed….do we know what they were used for?" Mark asked.

"Crazy as it sounds, they were originally built to house a certain number of people in case of a nuclear attack. You know, people who would be important in a post nuclear disaster." Randall said. "After the cold war ended they were sealed up. One entrance was left unsealed in case we were to use them again. Even that one was sealed up because some kids found it and the city council was afraid one of them would get lost down there."

"We need to find out who knew enough about them to help us," Eve said.

"Why don't we just unseal all of them and send police down everyone of them?" Mark asked.

"That might take days to find the Bob that way," Randall said. "If this blue print is correct, they run under the entire city, not just the outside perimeter, as I originally thought. I don't think we have that kind of time. We have to find him before Kinney decides to kill him and unless I miss my guess that is going to be sometime tonight."

"Commissioner, is there anymore records on these tunnels? Who's jurisdiction did they come under? There has to be someone who knows more about them than we do," Ed insisted. "We have to narrow down what entrance Kinney used to go in and where he is going to come out. It is the only chance we have of finding the chief in time."

Randall reached under his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "If there is, it has to be in the records room."

"Eve, get down there and work with whoever is on duty. Find out who had jurisdiction of those tunnels and find someone who is alive, a dead employee is not going to do us any good," Ed ordered.

Eve nodded. "What are you going to do?"

"I am going to have all the entrances located. We don't even know how accurate this blue print is. If all else fails, we unseal every one of them and send cops down there just like Mark said."

"You will never find him in time that way, Sergeant," Randall said.

"We'll find him," Ed said. "No other outcome is acceptable.

14.4

The cloud began to lift. Kinney opened his eyes. It was still pitch dark but he was sure he was awake. He could feel the pain in the side of his head. The last thing he remembered was hitting his head on the table after he tripped over the chair beside the table. His head ached. Kinney rubbed his temple. He felt dampness on his fingers, blood no doubt.

He felt for the table. Grabbing the side of the table, he lifted himself to his feet. Kinney felt around for the chair, which had been the cause for his fall. Having found the culprit, he felt for the seat and sat down. Even though it was completely dark in the room, Kinney knew the blow to his head have left him dizzy. The dark room seemed to be spinning around him. His temple throbbed.

"Ironside! Where are you? I'll kill you, you SOB. You are dead, Ironside! Do you know that? You're dead!." The room remained silent. Where in the hell was that crippled cop? He had to be in here somewhere. Kinney knew he had to find a lantern. He had to get some light in order to find his way around. He got up and walked slowly over to the table where he knew he had placed a lantern. Kinney felt around on the table. Ironside must have removed it. He remembered there was another on that table. He turned around and made his way back to the table. Forgetting that he had moved the chair in order to sit down, he again walked into it and tripped. Down he went again, taking most of the weight on his knees. "Damn it!" He grabbed the table and pulled himself to his feet. Feeling around the table, he knocked the pitcher of water to the floor. He continued to feel around the table. He picked up the glass and threw it across the room in frustration. He made one final swipe across the table and found no lantern. Ironside had removed that one as well.

Why didn't he tie up that damn cripple? How could one man, in a wheel chair no less cause so much trouble? Where was he? He had to be in this room. Kinney had locked him in here. He turned to what he believed was the cupboards and slowly shuffled his way over to them. He walked into an open door and banged his knee. Pain shot through the knee. The damage caused from the impact of landing on his knees in that last fall, compounded the screaming pain shooting through his legs. He closed his eyes and willed the pain away. He was sure that one or both kneecaps had been either broken or damaged when they took the full weight of his body.

Kinney felt around the cupboard. He could not feel anything. He tried to remember if he had left anything in the cupboard when he cleared out everything that Ironside might use as a weapon. He just could not jog his memory. No, he was sure nothing was left Ironside could use. He knew Ironside's reputation for making weapons of practically nothing. He had made sure what was left in that cupboard was useless to him.

Kinney slammed the cupboard shut and felt for the cupboard above. He found the cupboard handle and opened the door. He reached in and pulled out another lantern. After lighting the lantern, Kinney held it up and looked around the room. The lantern did not light up much of the room but Kinney did not see Ironside anywhere. He walked around the room, lighting each section of the room as he passed by. He could not believe it. Ironside was not in the room.

How did he get through a locked door? It was definitely locked when he arrived and yet Ironside had escaped. The rage rose in within him. Ironside had already caused him way too much trouble. He needed to find him and kill him. Then he would wait until it was dark and get out of San Francisco. He would head for Mexico. But first he had to find that damn crippled cop.

Kinney took the lantern and left the room. He pulled the gun from his waist and headed down the tunnel in search of Robert T. Ironside.

14.5

Ironside leaned against the wall in a sitting position. He remained in completed darkness awaiting Kinney. He knew he was awake. He had heard him yelling for him. Chief Ironside did not know how far he had crawled away from the room he had been held in. He only knew that Kinney's voice sounded a long way off. He had no idea how long it would take Kinney to reach him. If it were not for this flaming darkness, he would know how long before Kinney arrived. At least Kinney would not know when he had reached him. If Ironside was lucky, Kinney's rage would build and he would continue to yell for him. If he had had any sense at all, he would shut his mouth and search for Ironside silently. The chief hoped he had angered him enough to continue his rage so that he would hear his would be assassin coming.

Ironside raised his right arm in the air to try to stretch the stiffness that probably was caused from the fall from the ladder. His hand hit the wall. Rocks came tumbling down on top of him. Ironside covered his head with his arm as more stones and rocks came down on top of him. He removed his arm once the falling rocks stopped.

The detective felt around for the rocks. He gathered a couple of them in his hand. The larger one he threw away. The other was the size of a golf ball. Ironside felt the rock and turned it around in his hand. Reaching down, he grabbed a few more of the rocks. Ironside picked up his homemade bow. He placed the rock on the elastic and pull it back. The exhausted cop pointed the bow down the tunnel in the opposite direction he had come from. He let go of the elastic and shot the rock down the tunnel. Satisfied the bow would double as a sling, Ironside began collecting stones and placing them in his suit coat pocket.

14.6

Mark Sanger set a cup of coffee in front of Sgt. Ed Brown. "Thanks Mark, but I just can't drink anything right now." The phone rang. Brown grabbed it. "Chief Ironside's office, Sgt. Brown."

"Ed, it's Eve. I found him!"

"Found who?" Ed inquired.

"Horace Holmes. The tunnels fell under his jurisdiction until they were sealed," Eve answered.

"Have him picked up and bring him here," Brown ordered.

"That's not possible. He's in a nursing home. He's eighty eight years old but the doctor there says his mind is as sharp as a tack. He let me talk to him. Holmes says the commissioner right about that entrance. The highway is right next to it. But the commissioner is wrong about where it ends. The plans that we have do not show how far it goes out. The tunnel was added later on. Kinney would come out of the tunnel on the other side of the highway. He would go right under all of our police officers. They would never see him. He also said there is an entrance two miles straight from the cross tunnel. It is out in the middle of nowhere. He says of all the entrances into the tunnels that is the only one that he could go in and out without being noticed. Ed, he is convinced that is where he would have taken the chief."

"Good work Eve, get back up here right away." Brown hung up the phone.

Commissioner Randall waited for Brown to brief him. "Horace Holmes is our man." He told Randall what Eve had found out.

"Ed, I remember that entrance now. What Horace doesn't know is that the entrance was moved after he retired. You won't find it where he says it is. But I know where it is." Randall picked up the phone and dialed. "This is Commissioner Randall. I want every available police officer to report to the following areas." He gave the name of the roads where the two entrances were located. "It is believe to be where Chief Ironside is being held captive." Randall barked out more orders and then hung up the phone. "Let's go, Ed."

Eve Whitfield came into the office. "Eve, you and Mark follow us over in the chief's van. Bring the chief's extra wheelchair with you." Ed Brown and Commissioner Randall left the office on the run.

14.7

Kinney held the lantern up to light his way down the tunnel. He did not see the string that was strung across the tunnel. He walked right into it. He right foot hook on it and once again, Kinney fell to the floor falling on both of his already painful knees. He screamed in pain. "I'll kill that son of a bitch! I..R..O..N..S..I..D..E! He yelled at the top of his lungs.

14.8

The chief had been correct. Kinney was so enraged, he had lost all sense of reason. He was announcing his arrival just as Ironside had predicted. The detective readied his bow.

"You're dead Ironside. Do you hear me, you sorry excuse for a cop! You're dead! I am going to kill you slowly. I'll shoot you in your useless legs and continue plugging you all up way up your body and watch you bleed to death. Nobody is coming after you, Ironside. I killed Reece and Brown. You hear me you bastard. Your golden boys are dead and so are you!

Kinney continued down the tunnel, holding the lantern up in the air to light his way.

Ironside spotted the light coming from the lantern down the tunnel. He lifted the bow. He placed the dart on the elastic and pulled it back. He aimed in the direction of the light and waited.

"I am going to kill you slowly! The great Robert T. Ironside is going to fall at my hands. You ruined my life and now I am going to kill you Ironside. Do you hear me, cop?" He continued down the tunnel with the lantern in one hand and his gun in the other. "You're dead, Ironside!"

Ironside watched as Kinney's form began to come out of the darkness. He came closer, then closer. Ironside spotted the gun in Kinney's hand. Robert T. Ironside pulled the elastic back as far as he dared and shot his dart at Kinney's gun hand.

The dart traveled at top speed finding its way through the darkness. The makeshift arrow hit its target. Kinney screamed as the dart pierce his hand. He dropped the gun which skidded away down the blacken tunnel. Kinney screamed in agony. "Now you die Ironside," he screamed like a raving lunatic. He spotted Ironside and stormed toward him in a murderous rage.


	15. Chapter 15

Operation Kill a Cop

15.1

The siren on Ed's Ford wailed as it raced through the city streets. He was driving nearly fifty miles an hour but to Ed they may as well have been going five miles an hour. They could not get there fast enough for Brown. Ed was well aware of his boss's ability to take care of himself but the man was still in a wheelchair. Kinney had worked at headquarters. He knew what Ironside was capable of. He was far more dangerous than someone who was not aware of Ironside's abilities.

Randall was lost in his own thoughts. He had not said a word since they had pulled out of the police garage. Ed knew that the commissioner was worried about his friend as they all were. He and Ironside had known each other for over thirty years. Ed could only imagine that Randall might be thinking about how Ironside had come to his aside to help clear him of a charge of murder. No doubt, Randall was hoping to return the favor by reaching the chief in time to stop Kinney from killing him.

Ed reached for the car radio. "This is Sgt. Brown. All units assigned to a tunnel entrance are to unseal them immediately upon arrival. Enter the tunnels and search for Chief Ironside. Use extreme caution. Kinney is armed and dangerous. Use any and all measures to protect the chief. We want Kinney alive but shoot to kill if necessary to protect Chief Ironside." He hung up his car radio.

"You know Sergeant, the man might construe that order as a license to kill," Randall said.

Brown looked straight ahead and said nothing. It was better that Randall did not know what he was feeling. Frankly, he did not care what happened to Kinney as long as the chief was brought out of that tunnel safely.

15.2

Barbara hung up the phone. She had called Ironside's office for the second time today. She realized the calls were only five minutes apart but no one was answering. What was happening? Where were all of Bob's people? It was rare when all of them were out of the office at the same time. So where were they?

Barbara called out to the police officer who was guarding her room. Duffy entered immediately.

Duffy was a favorite of Chief Ironside when it came to protecting people he cared about. He usually got the nod. He had been dividing his time between Barbara's room and Carl Reese's room. He was a big man, tall with an air of a man that did not tolerate any trouble from anyone.

"Yes, Ms. Jones," he answered her.

"Has there been any word on Chief Ironside yet?"

Duffy was unsure whether he should inform her what was going on. However, the chief had always trusted his judgment in these matters and Duffy decided she had the right to know. "They believe they know where he is being held. They are in route there now."

"Do they know if he is alright?" She asked knowing that it wasn't likely that they did.

"I do not know anything else. I will certainly tell you if I do hear from Sgt. Brown.

"Can you tell me where they think he is?"

Duffy shook his head. "No I don't' know," he lied. He did not think the commissioner would want him to give out any information on the tunnels. He thought under the circumstances he had told Barbara all that he could.

"Thank you Duffy. As soon as you hear anything please let me know."

Duffy felt compassion for the woman. He was worried about the chief. He could not imagine what she was going through right now. "He will be fine. The chief knows how to take care of himself," he said trying to set her mind at ease.

Barbara smiled. "Thank you Duffy." He nodded and left her room.

Barbara wanted to scream. If nothing else, it might make her feel better. She felt so helpless. All she could do was lay there and wait for news of Bob's fate.

15.3

Ironside reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of the rocks he had collected. Keeping them contained in his left hand, he put a rock on the bow, now turned sling. Pulling it back, he quickly aimed at Kinney's head. He let go of the elastic. Right on target! It hit Kinney in the middle of his forehead.

Kinney stopped, staggered and shook his head, giving Ironside enough time to load the next stone on his homemade bow. He aimed again and pulled the elastic back. The rock slammed into Kinney's face, breaking his nose. Blood began pouring out. Kinney screamed, his rage heightening.

Ironside gave him no time to recover as he had another rock loaded on his bow. He pulled back the elastic and for the third time aimed it at Kinney's head. The rock may as well have been a boulder when it hit Kinney's temple. He dropped the lantern, grabbed his head and dropped to the floor of the tunnel.

Ironside start to crawl down the tunnel from Kinney. After pulling himself along for a couple of minutes, he stopped. He could not find his way in the pitch dark. He turned his body around and crawled back to the lantern he left behind the cement barrier. Ironside picked up his lantern and hooked the wire handle around his wrist, then headed back down the tunnel. He stopped again. It did not make sense to leave his captor to recover, only to have him torment him further.

Ironside crawled back to Kinney. Setting down the lantern, he untied his tie and pulled it off his neck. He rolled Kinney over, put his hands together and bound them with the tie. Ironside checked his handiwork. He cursed himself for not keeping some of that string. How could he stop Kinney from coming after him if he had no way to bind his feet?

Ironside felt the bow. There could be enough string in the bow to bind Kinney's feet, although he hated to give the weapon up. He decided he simply could not leave Kinney unless he could immobilize him. Ironside reached into his pocket and pulled out the knife he had constructed out of the plastic glass. He used the sharp end to pry under the string. He pulled the plastic knife and broke the string. Ironside unraveled the string and dismantled the bow. After collecting the string, he pulled himself to Kinney's feet and tied the string around and around his feet.

When he was about to run out of string, he tied a knot. The tired detective pulled on the string to test its strength. It had served the purpose for tripping Kinney, but he could not be sure it was strong enough to keep Kinney tied up. He would have to take that chance. If he was going to get out of here, he had to find another entrance into these tunnels. He had no clue how he was going to get the door opened but he knew he just could not sit around here. He had no food, no water and he was beginning to wonder if Dennis had remembered these tunnels. They should have been crawling with cops by now.

He turned the light out on Kinney's lantern and pitched it toward the cement barrier. Ironside crawled back, picked up his knife and put it back into his pocket. Once he grabbed his lantern, he began his journey down the tunnels.

15.4

Mark drove the van, matching Ed's speed. Listening to the police radio, both he and Eve rode in silence. Both of them were worried about the chief. Mark thought back to the time he went to work for Chief Ironside. He had been full of hate, especially for cops and Ironside himself. When the chief offered him a job, Mark had wanted to turn him down. The problem was he had no job, nowhere to go. He took the job but had not planned on sticking with it for long. He did not want to go to school and he did not look forward to being Ironside's "boy". As time went on, he discovered Ironside was not only a fair man but also a loyal one. Over time he grew to respect his boss and they eventually became more than boss and employee. They became friends.

Mark now looked forward to going to school. He felt for the first time in his life that he was somebody. Ironside was not always easy to work for but Mark had gotten to know him and knew his frustrations were not to be taken personally. Everything that Mark had now become was because of the interest Ironside had taken in him.

He grew fond of Ed and Eve. They had become a family. They looked out for one another with Ironside the head of the "family". He could not allow himself to think of Kinney killing him. Death, as he once told Ironside, made him itch inside. They simply had to find him and bring him out of their safely. Mark could not think of any other outcome.

Eve remembered how vulnerable the chief had been at the hospital, waiting for word of Barbara's surgery. She was happy she had been there for him. He had earned her love and respect. Ironside was like a second father to her. She could not stand to see him hurting. He was always there for her when relationships failed. When she once considered quitting the force after shooting a young man that had robbed a store, Ironside knew just what to do to help her work through it. She just could not consider her life as a cop without the chief's guidance.

The ride to the tunnel entrance might have well been in New York City. It seemed to be taking forever. Hang on chief, she thought, we are on our way.

15.5

Kinney groaned. With darkness all around him, he opened his eyes. No matter what direction he look in, he could not see anything. If he did not know better, he would have sworn he was blind. Kinney's head was throbbing. That damn crippled cop. When he got his hands on him, he was going to tear him apart. Blood was trickling into his left eye, probably from his forehead where Ironside had hit him with a rock. How could that cripple throw those stones with such force? He could not even see those rocks coming. Nor did he even see Ironside himself in the darkness.

Kinney could not believe he had underestimated him. He had worked in police headquarter for years. He knew Ironside's reputation. What did he leave in that room that Ironside was able to use? There just no way Ironside could have thrown those rocks with such deadly accuracy from such a long distance. At least Kinney thought it was from a long distance. Oh, how could he possibly know?

He tried to move. What the hell, he thought. As the fog began to clear, he realized he was tied up. "Ironside!" All he got as a response was silence. He did not know if Ironside was in the vicinity. "Ironside!" Unable to move his feet, he tried pulling them apart. Whatever Ironside had used to tie him up was holding.

Kinney crawled on his side. His movement was slow but he made progress. Suddenly he could go no further. He touched his face to the barrier and immediately knew that it was cement. Kinney pushed himself in a sitting position, using the cement barrier to support himself. He leaned against it again to push himself up. The former records clerk sat down on the barrier. He was poked in the rear with something. He put his head back and began to laugh. "Nice try Ironside!" He shouted. "But this is not going to stop me."

Kinney pushed his hands toward his back left pocket. He reached in and pulled out his pocketknife. Why the world he put that knife in that pocket, he would never know. He never put his pocketknife in his back pocket. Nevertheless, he had this time.

Being careful not to drop the knife, he open the blade, turned it and began sawing whatever was binding his hand. After a minute, it loosen. Kinney closed the knife and pulled his hands apart. After repeating this a couple times, the tie gave way. Kinney's hands were free. He reached down and felt the binding on his feet. "String. How much more of that stuff does he have?"

Kinney unraveled the string, rolled it back up and put it in his pocket. It would come in handy. He could tie up Ironside so that he was not a threat while he was shooting holes in him. Kinney rubbed his hands and then his ankles. Once he was able to work the stiffness out of them, he stood up. He had to find his lantern. He could not go anywhere without it. If he got lost down here, he would never find his way out. With the knife in hand he shuffled to his right and tripped over the lantern that Ironside had tossed aside. Kinney fell down. His knife flew out of his hand.

Kinney sat there for a moment as the pain in his knees turned his stomach. "Damn it, where the hell did the knife go?" He picked up the lantern and walked around the area. When he could not locate it after a few minutes, he gave up. "Too bad, I could have sliced you up a bit, Ironside."

Kinney started down the tunnel in search of the crippled cop. He kicked something that scooted a few feet away. Using the lantern, he held it close to the floor. There in front of him was the gun that Ironside shot out of his hand with the dart. Grinning, he picked it up. He doubted he would be able to shoot with is right hand. It was extremely painful where the dart had sunk deep into it. He would have to shoot him left handed. Kinney pointed it down the tunnel and pulled the trigger. Yes, he would be able to shoot left-handed. When he caught up with Ironside, he would be more cautious. He had no idea what Ironside may have found to make other weapons. He thought he did not leave him anything but apparently, he had. He would not give him a chance to use them. He would shoot him repeatedly, being careful not to hit anything that would cause him to bleed to death quickly. He wanted him to bleed to death slowly.

Kinney held up the lantern and headed down the hall after his prey.

15.6

He had no idea how far he had traveled. It was difficult to know in the darkness. All he knew was there was another entrance into the tunnels somewhere up ahead and down another tunnel to the left. Ironside remembered asking Dennis about it because it appeared to be outside the city limits. Where in the flaming hell was Ed and Eve? Surely, by now they had ascertained his whereabouts. He trained these detectives himself. There were very few places a police cell phone would not work. Of course Dennis would have to tell them about these tunnels but Ironside had no doubt Dennis was involved with trying to find him. Between them, they should know where he is.

Ironside whipped his head back in the direction he came at the sound coming from the tunnel behind him. It was definitely a gunshot. That could only mean one thing. Kinney had gotten loose and had found the gun. He had to find cover. When Kinney got close enough, his lantern would reveal Ironside's presence.

He shut off his lantern and continued pulling himself down the tunnel. After around five minutes, he banged his head on something it front of him. Blood trickled down his forehead. He wiped the moisture from his head and felt the object in front of him. It was another cement barrier. Ironside pulled himself behind and turned his body around. After setting his lantern down, he reached into his pocket and removed the rocks that were left. With a hand that was scraped and skinned from crawling and pulling the weight of his own body, he reached one more time into his suit coat pocket and pulled out his remaining weapon, his hand made plastic knife. Like a tiger waiting to attack his prey, Ironside sat silently waiting for Kinney to catch up with him.

15.7

Ed slammed on the breaks and jumped out of the car. Dennis Randall was out of the car almost as fast as the younger man. The chief's van, containing Mark and Eve pulled up and came to a sudden halt.

A police officer approached Ed and Commissioner Randall. He seemed unsure of who he was to report to. Randall sensed the young officer's problem and said, "Sgt. Brown is in charge of this operation, officer."

The officer was relieved. He did not want to upset men who outranked him. "Sergeant, there is no opening where these blue prints show. We have been over it three times now and can't find it."

Another officer approached them. "Sgt. Brown, we have located a blue Ford that was partly concealed over there." He pointed in the direction where they had found the car. "It is a stolen vehicle. I called Kinney's apartment manager and it matches the description he gave me. He said Kinney showed up with it the day before he disappeared from the apartment."

"Alright, tell the rest of the men to join us. I want all of them down that ladder as soon as we get the door open," Brown said.

"But sir," the younger officer said, "we have been unable to locate the door."

"Commissioner" Ed said as he turned to Randall.

"This way Sergeant," Randall said as he walked away from Brown and the other officers. He led them to a patch of bushes. He pulled the bushes back revealing a door.

"Get a crow bar over here," Ed yelled.

"Don't bother," Eve said. "It's not sealed," she said as she pulled the door open.

"Commissioner, you better stay here with Mark," Ed said.

"I going in," Mark said.

"You are not a cop, Mark," Eve told him.

"I'm going in," Mark repeated.

"We are all going in," Randall said as he pulled a service revolver out of his suit coat. "Officer, give Mr. Sanger a service revolver."

Ed looked at Randall in surprise. It was not like the commissioner to allow a civilian to go into a dangerous situation but he would not be able to justify keeping Mark out if he went in. It was obvious Randall was as anxious to find the chief as they were.

One by one, all of them entered the tunnel. "Eve, Mark and Commissioner, stay with me. The rest of you spread out and enter a branch of the tunnel when we come up on them."

When they arrive at the room Ironside had been held, it was checked out by Ed and Eve. "This is where he held him. "The chief dropped his pen." When they left the room, Ed handed Mark a cross pen that had the initials RTI on the side of it. "Let's go."

14.8

"Ironside, why don't you stop running…..or crawling that is," Kinney shouted. "Give it up. You're a dead man. Just accept it."

Ironside remained quiet. He did not move a muscle. He knew Kinney was close. He knew what he was going to do. It was just a matter of minutes before he would put his final plan in motion. This time he would not be merciful. It was obvious only one man was leaving this tunnel alive and he intended to be that man. He laid quietly waiting for Kinney to get closer.

"Ironside! Damn you, where the hell are you?" Kinney yelled. "Give up and I promise, I just put a bullet in that thick scull of yours." Kinney stopped. He heard nothing. "You should not have sent me to prison chief. I was just trying to make a buck. Now you are going to pay for the injustice you forced on me. Ironside!"

He was getting closer….his voice becoming louder. It would not be long now. Ironside did not move. He barely breathed for fear his breathing would be labored enough for Kinney to hear. He waited in the dark. Even though Kinney had a gun, Ironside knew he had the element of surprise. It would be enough. It had to be enough. All of his police instincts had kicked in. He waited with a determination to overcome the odds. He had an office to run. He a woman to go home to. Come on Kinney, I am over here, said to himself.

"Ironside, you can't escape. Just give it up!" He shouted.

The chief could see his lantern's light. He was almost there. One or two more steps. Kinney stepped even with the barrier wall. Ironside lobbed a rock to the other side of the tunnel. It hit the wall with a thud.

Kinney turned suddenly toward the sound of the rock as it hit the wall. That was when Ironside made his move. He reached out and stabbed Kinney's leg. Kinney screamed. Ironside used his other arm to sweep Kinney's legs out from under him. He went crashing to the floor, landing on his elbows. The gun was jarred out of his hand and fell nearby.

The chief pulled himself toward where he heard the gun hit the flood. Kinney jumped on top of him. "You die now, Ironside. I going to kill you, you bastard.

Ironside reached behind him and stabbed Kinney in the side. He howled in agony. The chief pushed him off and turned over on his back. His legs did not turn with him.

Kinney grabbed Ironside's right hand, which contained the knife. He slammed his hand repeatedly on the tunnel floor until Ironside lost control of the knife and dropped it. Both men struggle for the homemade knife. Kinney knocked it out of Ironside's reach and picked it up. He raised it above Ironsides head and brought it down. He was met with Ironside's hand gabbing hold of his wrist.

Kinney struggle to stab Ironside who fought with all his strength. Ironside was a strong man but his strength had been tapped out by all that had been forced upon him. He was barely holding his own. He turned his head. Just to his right the dropped lantern was lighting up the gun. It was within Ironside's grasp.

While Kinney continue to apply pressure to bring the knife down to stab him, Ironside reached over, pickup up the gun, pushed it into Kinney's chest and fired.

Kinney dropped the homemade knife. With a look of surprise and pain of his face, he cursed Ironside one more time before he fell forward on him. Ironside pushed him off his body. Reaching over he put his index and middle finger on Kinney's neck. He had no pulse.

Robert T. Ironside closed his eyes and laid there without moving. Exhaustion set into every inch of his body. His arms felt like rubber, his elbow and forearms pained, and his head pounded. When he finally opened his eyes, he could see lights down the tunnel…..lots of lights. He could hear people running in his direction.

"CHIEF!" Ed called out. "CHIEF!"

"OVER HERE, ED!" Ironside shouted back.

Within seconds he was surrounded by more than a dozen cops….his cops….with Ed, Eve, Dennis and of course his aide and friend, Mark.

Ed looked down at his boss who was holding a gun in his hand. He glanced over at Kinney's dead body.

Ironside stared up at them and said gruffly, "What in the flaming hell took you so long?"

Epilogue to follow….


	16. Chapter 16

Operation Kill a Cop

Chapter 16

Epilogue

16.1

"What in the blazes is taking so long?" Ironside complained.

"Chief, you are not the only one in this hospital," Eve reminded him.

"Emergency, ha...it is a good thing I am not bleeding. I would have bleed to death by now, Ironside grumbled.

"If you had been bleeding that bad you would have been taken first."

"Where's Mark?"

"In the waiting room. They would only allow one of us in the room with you at a time." Eve could see that Ironside was getting irritated. She knew he only wanted to get to San Francisco General where Barbara was. He had been very unhappy when he realized they were taking him to St. Mary's Hospital.

Eve had been afraid he would order them to take him directly to General Hospital. St Mary's was closer and the medical staff was familiar with his medical history. Besides, Eve knew they were better equipped to handle his impatience with everything related to hospitals. She just hoped they did not have to admit him. Eve was afraid he would raise such a ruckus they would ship him off to General.

She looked down at his ankle. It was swollen to more than double its size. She reached down and lowered his sock. "Chief, this doesn't look good. Either it is broken or you have a pretty bad sprain. That really looks painful."

Ironside looked up at his police detective and raised his eyebrows. "It pains like flaming hell," he said sarcastically.

Eve turned red, embarrassed by her blunder. She thought she saw the corners of his mouth turn up slightly with amusement.

The curtain was pulled back and a nun walked in. "Hello Robert, you seem to have a problems staying out of the hospital," Sister Agatha said.

Ironside attempted to hold back a smile. He was rather fond of Sister Agatha but he did not want to let her know it. "Well hello there Sergeant Agatha. What brings you down here on this fine day?"

"There was a rumor that the worst patient we have ever had was back here for another visit. I just wanted to be sure you still hold the title," she said. She looked down at his ankle. Sister Agatha could see the swelling despite the sock that the chief was wearing. "Has this been looked at yet?" she asked.

"They x-rayed it about an hour ago. We are waiting for the results," Eve answered for her boss.

Agatha reached down, gently lifted Ironside's ankle and pulled the sock off. "This is a really bad sprain at the least. It could be broken. Why have they not put an ice pack on this?"

Eve again answered for her boss. "The chief refused to get up on a hospital bed."

"Stubborn, cantankerous cop," she mumbled. She left the room, only to return almost immediately with an ice pack. Kneeling down, she placed the ice pack around Chief Ironside's ankle. Sister Agatha, for the first time noticed the blood on his suit coat and shirt. Alarmed, she reached up to check to see if Ironside was bleeding.

"It's not mine," Ironside said, realizing what she was concerned about.

"What is not yours?"

"The blood. It belongs to someone else. I am not bleeding," Ironside said.

She stood up and looked at the cut on his forehead. "How did this happen?"

"I was crawling around in the dark and ran into a wall," he said in a grouchy tone.

Figuring Ironside was being sarcastic, Sister Agatha snapped, "Then try crawling around in the daylight." She reached in a drawer and brought out what appeared to Ironside some type of solution for cleansing a wound. Using a soft cotton ball, she cleaned the wound on his forehead and put a bandage on it. She noticed both of his elbows were scratched and bruised as were his hands. His suit coat was in shreds, the knees of his pants were torn and filthy from crawling through the tunnels. Softening her voice, Agatha said, "Robert, what happened?"

"A man the chief sent to jail got out a while ago and decided to take up a new career killing cops," Eve told her.

"The cop killer?"

"Yes, sister," Eve said.

"I hope for your sake and the shape you are in that you caught him," the nun said.

"We got him," Ironside answered.

The curtain opened and the emergency doctor that had assessed Ironside's condition walked in. "Well chief, we have good news. The ankle is not broken. It is however one of the worse sprains I have ever seen. The ligaments are not torn from the bone but they are close. Under the circumstance, I would like to put a cast on it to help immobilize it."

"Doctor, is that really necessary? In case you have not noticed, it is already immobilized. Why not just wrap it. It is not as if I am going to walk on it," Ironside complained in defiance.

"Alright chief, no cast…..at least not the traditional cast. I will compromise and we will put a removable cast on it. That way you can take it off at night but I am going to insist on the removable cast as opposed to an ace bandage. That ankle needs more support than the bandage will provide. You have no broken bones anywhere and no concussion. The scrapes and bruises will heal quickly. I am going to insist that you take it easy for a few days. Your body has been though quite a bit of trauma. You need to give yourself time to heal. I'll give you a prescription for pain and something to help you sleep. Two days, chief…..do nothing but rest. Is that clear?"

"I have a full case load….." Ironside said.

"Two days, Bob or I will admit you to the hospital and force you to rest. Is that clear?" The doctor asked.

"You have been hanging around Sister Agatha too long," Ironside said, deciding not to argue with him.

"Is that clear Bob?" He asked again.

"If it will get me out of here I will wear it." Ironside snarled.

"Alright then. We will get someone in here to cast the ankle and check you out of here. Remember, two days, Bob. Rest! See your doctor about monitoring that ankle. It will need therapy as well."

Ironside waved his hand at the doctor. "Yea, yea."

"Eve, I want to know if he doesn't follow my orders."

Eve smiled. Now she had something with which to blackmail the chief.

"Eve, go get Mark and get me the hell out of here," he growled.

"Well," said Sister Agatha. "I can see it is not in any danger."

"What is not in any danger?" Ironside snapped at her.

"Your reputation as this hospital's worse patient ever," she replied with a slight smile.

"Sister, I am notoriously the world's worst patient." Ironside grinned at her.

Sister Agatha smiled back but said nothing. She could not let him know how fond she was of him either. "Take him home, Miss Whitfield. I can only handle him in small doses." Sister Agatha left the treatment room.

16.2

Mark wheeled Ironside out to the van. He pushed the button and the lift lowered to the ground. Ironside wheeled his chair onto the tray. By the time Mark had walked around to the driver's door, Ironside was inside the van. Eve got into the passenger seat in the front of the van.

"As soon as we get back Mark, I want to get into the shower and get cleaned up. Then I want you to take me up to see Barbara."

"But chief, you are suppose to rest and the commissioner will want a report on what happened in those tunnels," Eve protested. "Barbara would understand. She would want you to rest as well. Why don't you just call her and let her know you are alright tonight and go see her tomorrow?"

"Didn't one of you call her and let her know that I am alright?" Ironside growled.

"I called her," Mark answered.

"I know you did, Mark," Eve said. "But she will want to hear it from the chief. She will want to hear his voice before she will be able to relax."

"And she will hear my voice, just as soon as I have had a shower, shave and a change of clothes," he said stubbornly.

"But chief..."

"Eve, I am fine. I just want to go up to the hospital and see how Barbara is doing and than I will go back and rest. Now will that satisfy your mothering instincts?"

Eve gave in. She really did not blame him. If the situation were reversed, she would want to do the same. Although, she knew her boss would have ordered her to go home and rest.

"Has Ed called in yet?" Ironside asked.

"No chief but he had some clean up to do in the tunnels. He may be awhile yet," Eve answered. Did Kinney have any family?"

"He had a wife but she divorced him when he went to prison," Ironside answered.

"Chief, have you ever wondered what makes a mind snap like Kinney's did? I mean he could have straightened his life out. If he had come to you, I know you would have helped him or found someone who could have. Instead he decided to start killing cops."

"The mind is a tricky thing, Eve. Everyone has his or her breaking point and some people are weaker then others. Kinney was weak. He blamed his actions on me instead of taking responsibility for them. He must have spent his time in prison allowing his hatred to fester. Just remember, he came to that fork in the road and he had the choice of which way to go. He chose the wrong one. Just as he chose the wrong one when he helped with the robbing of that bank. It is not my fault, his wife's or any of the cops he murdered. He chose his own fate. He had a choice. He chose his path. Don't feel sorry for him. He doesn't deserve it."

Mark pulled the van into the police garage. He wheeled Ironside into the elevator that would lead to his third floor office/residence. Once inside Ironside headed for the bathroom. "Mark, give me a hand will you?"

As Mark began to wheel his boss toward the bathroom, the door burst open and Ed walked down the ramp. "Well that about does it, chief. How's your ankle?"

"Fine. What else did you find down there?" Ironside asked.

"He had an entire apartment down there. The room he kept you in was barely furnished compared to the one we found. In fact, it had electricity. It had never been shut off when they closed those tunnels off years ago. There was enough food down there to feed him for several months. He had been planning this for some time, chief."

"He had a computer down there. He had intended to kill every cop in the department whose name contain "Robert" in any part of it. But chief, he did not intend to stop there. He was then going to turn to the San Francisco people and continue to kill people whose name contained Robert. It is not clear when he had intended to kill you."

"We forced his hand Ed, when we found Roberta and saved her life. He knew we had figured out his pattern," Ironside said.

"I still don't see how he could have gotten out of the city if he had killed the chief. He had the city completely bottled up." Eve said.

"He could have lived in those tunnels for months, Eve," Ed said. "He would have just waited until the heat died down."

The door opened and Commissioner Dennis Randall came down the ramp. "Bob, I am glad you are alright. I got the report from the hospital. I want you to take some time off and relax. Why don't you have Mark take you to my farm? It is quiet there. You will get plenty of rest."

Ironside groaned. "The last time I went to your farm, Dennis, I ended up getting a couple months of rest….in the hospital. No thanks. I will just hang around here and relax for a couple days."

"Suit yourself but you are not to do anything remotely related to work. I want you to get some rest. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Dennis. Now what about the tunnels?"

"They are being sealed back up. Unfortunately, many more people now know about them. I am not sure we will be able to keep that secret for long. Bob, maybe you could help me to understand something."

"Understand what?" Ironside asked warily.

Randall had an amused look on his face. "When you got the call from the hospital saying Barbara had taken a turn for the worse, why didn't that detective mind of yours kick in?"

"What the blazes are you talking about?"

"Well you took right off without considering the strangeness of the call. Why did you not call the hospital back and ask to speak with the doctor in charge of her case?"

Ironside tried to hide his uneasiness. Just as soon as Kinney had taken him hostage in the van, he had been kicking himself for letting his guard down. Randall was right. As a detective, a red flag should have gone up immediately. Instead, he raced out of his office without thinking. He knew his worry over Barbara clouded his judgment. His lack of judgment could have cost him his life. It was the very behavior he would have chastised any member of his staff had they done the same thing. However, he was not about to admit it to his staff let alone Dennis Randall.

"I had every intention of calling the hospital," Ironside said as if he could not see anything out of the ordinary that he had done.

"Why did you not do so before you left the office?" Randall pushed further.

Mark, Eve and Ed all knew where this was going. Smiles began to break out over their faces. "Because I did not want to waste time sitting in this office on the phone when I could save time by making the call from the van while it route," he growled, hoping that would end Randall's probe of his actions.

"Bob, did it not occur that it was a rouge to get you out of this office?"

Ironside faked surprise. "No, of course not."

Mark grunted, knowing the chief would have considered that first if he had not been distracted by Barbara's condition. Ironside shot him a dirty look.

"But was it logical to just assume that Barbara had taken a turn for the worse when she was doing so well?" Randall asked. "Are you sure you just weren't distracted and missed the signs," Randall asked with a slight smile.

"No, I was not distracted," Ironside said stubbornly. "I'm a cop. I don't get distracted on the job." Ed snickered, for which he was treated with the same dirty look Mark got.

"Come on Bob, aren't you going to admit that you were worried about Barbara so you did not even consider the strangeness of the phone call. You took off out of this office like a bat out of hell and headed to your damsel in distress. You forgot all your police instincts and all you could think of was getting to Barbara. As a result, like any of us you made a mistake, a human mistake, proving you are just as human as the rest of us. You walked right into Kinney's trap." Randall was grinning. "If you had just called the hospital, you would not have had to leave the office at all."

"No Dennis, none of that is the case." Eve, Mark and Ed were all snickering and trying in vain not to laugh at the chief's expense.

"Well then, suppose you explain what is the case?" Randall said.

"I got a phone call from the hospital. I was going to call the hospital when I got to the van, saving the wasted time I would have spent in this office, making that call. After all if the call did turn out to be false then Barbara could have been the target…"

Randall interrupted, "…..oh of course. Bob, why didn't you tell me Barbara's middle name was Robert." Ed, who was taking a sip of his coffee at that moment started to laugh, causing him to snuff the coffee up into his nostrils. He began coughing and sneezing. Mark and Eve could not control themselves. They roared with laughter.

"Are you going to let me finish?" Ironside snarled at Randall while glaring at his staff.

"Oh by all means, Bob, finish." Randall said.

"If upon finding out the call was not from the hospital, I wanted to go there and check with the officers to be sure they kept their eyes opened. Perfectly acceptable police procedure."

"Admit it, you never picked up your cell phone or even considered making a call," Randall said.

"On the contrary, I not only picked it up, but turned it on so that I…"

"…could be traced by us," Randall said.

"could call the hospital, check on Barbara's security detail and then check first hand to be sure everything was being done to protect her. Good solid police procedure." Ironside said.

"Come now Bob, you have to admit you walked into a trap," Randall argued.

"No I did not," Ironside insisted.

"Bob, how can you sit there with your poker face and say you did not walk into a trap."

"…be…because," Ironside stammered. "In case you have not noticed I can't walk."

Laughter broke out in the room again. Even Randall could not resist. "I give up, you win."

"You mean you are ready to admit my methods were of sound police procedure?" Ironside said in triumph.

"Not exactly. I am willing to admit you could not have made what was a normal human mistake…simply because you are not human," Randall said grinning at his friend. Eve, Mark and Ed were laughing again.

"Don't you have any work to do," Ironside growled at Ed and Eve who immediately moved away from the table and back to their police reports.

"Dennis, I hope you won't take this the wrong way," Ironside barked. "Get out of my flaming office so I can get cleaned up."

Randall was grinning from ear to ear as he walked up the ramp. "I want your reports on my desk by tomorrow."

"Mark, get me into the shower," Ironside yelled.

"That's a good idea Mark. He smells like he has been crawling around in the sewer," Randall said, firing his parting shot as he left the office.

16.3

Ironside wheeled into Barbara's hospital room. "Chief!" squealed Tracy as she ran to him. She crawled up into his lap and hugged him. Ironside hugged her back and then wheeled his chair over to Barbara.

"Tracy, let me talk to Bob alone. Please wait outside for a minute." Barbara said to her youngest daughter. After Tracy left the room, Barbara ran her hand down Ironside's cheek, which supported quite a few scratches. She looked at the bandage on his forehead. "Are you alright?" She asked softly.

He took her hand in his and kissed the back of it. "I am fine. You just concentrate on getting better. I have plans for us."

She looked into his blue eyes. "No other injuries other than the cuts and bruises on your face and hands?"

"I have a badly sprained ankle but if weren't for the swelling, I would never know it," he smiled.

"And Kinney?"

Ironside shook his head. "He gave me no choice. It was him or I and I decided you would kill me if I had allowed it to be me." Ironside smiled slightly.

Barbara squeezed his hand. "I was so worried."

"I'm sorry. You did not need that right now. But is over so let's put it behind us."

"I could not bear losing you," she said with tears in her eyes.

Ironside cradled her chin in his hand and kissed her. When they separated, he said, "I am afraid danger is part of my job. You have to trust me to know how to handle this kind of situation."

"I trust you Bob. It's the man trying to kill you, I don't trust," she said.

"Can you handle it?" he asked.

"I don't have a choice. I love you."

"I love you too. Randall owes me some time. What do you say we go up to his cabin when you get out of here?"

"More nights like the last one we were together?"

"Many more," Ironside said.

"In that case. I accept." She leaned toward him and he kissed her again.

The door opened and Tracy poked her head in. "Is the mushy stuff over?"

Barbara laughed. "Come on in Tracy," Ironside called out.

She entered the room and got back into Ironside's lap. She put her index finger on the bandage on his forehead. "Does it hurt?"

"Not much," he answered.

"Mommy says if you kiss it, it will feel better."

"Then you better kiss it," the big detective said. Tracy kissed his forehead. "Your mommy was right. It feels better already."

A nurse walked into the room. "Chief Ironside, I am going to have to ask you to end your visit. Ms. Jones needs rest. For that matter sir, after what you have been through, you could use some rest as well.

"She's right, Bob. Go home and get some rest. Call me before you turn in," Barbara told him.

"Alright. Tracy, how would you like to sleep at police headquarters?" Ironside asked the little girl.

"You mean it?" She said excitedly.

"I sure do. We can even stop for ice cream on the way there if you want."

"Oh boy do I!" she squealed. She got down out of his lap and headed for the door. "I'll go wait with Mark." She left the room and closed the door.

"She really loves you Bob," Barbara said.

"The feeling is mutual." He leaned in and kissed her again. "Start planning for the trip. We leave as soon as you are well enough."

She smiled at him. "Go home, and rest up. You are going to need it because you are not going to getting any rest at the cabin."

Ironside kissed her one more time, turned his chair and wheeled out of the room.

The End


End file.
